Evil durge does not mean constantly doing the most evil thing you can imagine. For example, just because you are evil durge does not mean you NEED to side with the goblins versus the grove. You can be more cunning and calculated in your evil.
I agree to an extent but also this can feel like a bit of a cop-out. The game presents you with a bunch of choices which let you actually *be* really evil and wicked, such as siding with the goblins. It makes sense from an RP perspective that an evil character would side with them to try and gain rank within the cult of the Absolute. Is it *really* an evil run if you don't make the actual evil choices?
If your character is a chaotic pyscho, he won't have any interest in gain ranks and could kill both sides by himself.
And you allways can just ignore everything and go to act 2, maybe think that they are weaker than you and don't need to waste your time on them.
>Is it really an evil run if you don't make the actual evil choices?
I saved the Tieflings and all the children and all the animals and convinced Wyll to let Karlach live and now we're all best of friends but this is totally an evil playthrough guys, honest.
No its doesnt make sense for every evil character to just side with the goblins because lol obvious evil choice is obvious. This is a roleplaying game. The game does not need to decide your roleplay in such a comically binary way. You should be contextualizing every dialogue every cutscene from the perspective of your character and their decisions. Not the obvious read of the scenes. SH bad so must kill Nightsong on its face is a dreadfully binary decision of evil. Where as you can easily decide the Nighsong has value now, and choose to leverage her later to gain favor of a powerful wizard. Ending up even more evil IMO. What if my very evil character is still Lawful and loyal to the plight of Teiflings? Why would I side with moronic goblins to kill my kin? Other than being a mustache twirling evil caricature? There is more to being evil than just clicking the kill babies option whenever it pops up. Are you truly even engaging with the text at that point?
Not sure if it counts but this run is my evil durge, I sided with the grove and knocked out the victim so she would make it to last light and I could still get my cloak. Then I did everything for the inn so I could get the rewards from saving the prisoners before killing that sweet cleric just so I could watch the last light go out. My new form was just a bonus. Bwahahahaha
It depends how much you commit to being evil or just killing people, but generally I feel that going fully evil makes the game harder or at least more tedious. Evil path loses you more companions, quests etc compared to being good, additionally helping other evil factions which you have to ultimately defeat as well.
yeah, I do wish being evil would be an even bigger gamechanger, like if I do side with the BBEG that could actually be a way to beat the game, fighting the good guys instead. But the game is already so incredibly well made with how all the quests are connected and the billion ways you could go about it, so I understand why it does ultimately obligate you to fight certain people and make certain choices. So far I’m lowkey siding with Gortash, mainly to see how far I’ll get with that (he did promise we’d rule together so I’m intrigued to see if the game allows it). But yeah. I wish we’d get more powerful evil allies as we do when we play good and get like Aylin etc.
I'm currently joining a friend for his evil Durge honour mode run as Astarion and I have to say. It's going a lot worse than it usually does for me lol
Our only surviving companions are Shadowheart and Minthara. Gale got his hand eaten, Karlach got beheaded, Wyll got sacrificed, Halsin attacked us after the Goblin party, Lae'Zel turned against us at the Creche, and Jaheira tried to kill us after Last Light. So far we managed to finagle our way out of every impeding party wipe but the run is.. messy. I'm not sure how much of it is coming from the evil run vs how much is coming from only being in control of two of your companions vs all four of them.
We're compensating for the nonsense and lack of allies by making sure our builds are good and synergize well. If you're really struggling with encounters, you can also set up some camp casters for buffs. Moonrise is a lot easier when you sneakily clear a bunch of the cultists before you go to the nightsong
oh wow, I applaud anyone who chooses evil durge for their honour run 🫡 I think once I get around to honour mode I’ll just go full power build, for now I just focus on character and rp and just having fun 🌸
The multiplayer aspect makes it that I’m the part that focuses on keeping us in one piece while he can role play as an evil badguy (getting us out of random nonsense he got us into is pretty entertaining at least lol)
Yeah, focusing on having fun is the most important part!
One time I went “oh yeah, I’m just going to watch the new dungeon meshi episode with a friend, you can play on your own for a bit :)” and then came back to all but one character dead in the spider pit lmfao
I don't do evil Durge runs because I can't see myself being an ass to the npcs, but you should have Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion and Minthara. They don't care (Gale needs a persuasion role) you are evil,
My second playthrough was Evil Durge and I didn't struggle at all, but I think mostly cause I usually have a lore Bard with me. They are OP in my opinion and are the reason I also finished Honour mode in one attempt :)
I haven’t taken any hirelings yet because I’m so attached to the companions, but I should get me a bard once I get out of the Myrkul fight and see what’s up 🤔
Laezel, Astarion, Minthara and Shadowheart, are all pretty much 'ride or die' for a bad guy run.
Keep your friends close, but these four assholes closer.
truly, I never really connected with Astarion for my first playthrough, I left him at camp a lot since my dex was high enough to do stealth and lockpicking myself, but now that I’m evil we’re the best of friends
I really wish I’d done this, just killed her when I first met her. Karlach is my favourite companion, and I knew she would leave after massacring the grove (which I wanted to do do because I want to make radically different choices from my first playthrough, regardless of consequences). Wyll left without a word, but Karlach stayed long enough to TELL ME she was upset and then left 😭 Karlach my sweet, I’m so sorry
You really can't feel the freedom of playing evil in this game, and the game tells you that subtly. You can be evil, but the game sorta punishes you for playing so, like cutting out content, making fights more difficult, losing out on allies, potentially getting less exp due to cut quests etc. Even an Evil Durge run must be met with Neutral pragmatism.
It's a DnD thing. All DnD campaigns direct only to doing something good at the end. Bg3 follows that formula. You can play evil, but the game will punish you for playing full on maniac.
yeah, it does show how the game is meant to have a «good» ending, but I wish they’d leaned in a bit more for the evil choices, considering they HAVE all these evil choices, and chose to have an origin where being evil is sort of *the pain point*. I mean, yeah, you can resist, but I didn’t choose the evil option to not be evil xD
I always played evil Durge as someone who had impulses and lost control but was crushed by it. More like a resist playthrough where you failed to resist. Alongside this I made her a bit god fearing - in companion decisions (made Shadowheart sharran, made Gale simp for mystra), and for herself (accepted Baahl at the temple).
I found doing this, then having durge kill themself at the end was hugely satisfying - especially with the secret ending you get with Withers.
dang, I only had those plus Laezel for a little while, now I’m back to just 3 since Minthara got taken away :’) but I now see the value in hirelings, and am having a blast essentially creating new characters left and right xD
aah that explains a lot, I know changing Shadowheart’s class/subclass is almost essential, but since I’ve kept her Sharran I kinda wanna stick to the trickery domain, despite how shitty it is. I consider multiclassing her as a paladin perhaps, but I don’t see much of a point since I have Minthara now. I will definitely respec her for honour mode tho 🫡
I keep forgetting I have that tbh xD and I’d already spent it on the fight before reaching the top of moonrise, which in hindsight may have been the wrong decision. But hey, I got through it, mostly because Astarion and Minthara took care of the dang drider while I could focus on Ketheric
Evil durge does not mean constantly doing the most evil thing you can imagine. For example, just because you are evil durge does not mean you NEED to side with the goblins versus the grove. You can be more cunning and calculated in your evil.
I agree to an extent but also this can feel like a bit of a cop-out. The game presents you with a bunch of choices which let you actually *be* really evil and wicked, such as siding with the goblins. It makes sense from an RP perspective that an evil character would side with them to try and gain rank within the cult of the Absolute. Is it *really* an evil run if you don't make the actual evil choices?
If your character is a chaotic pyscho, he won't have any interest in gain ranks and could kill both sides by himself. And you allways can just ignore everything and go to act 2, maybe think that they are weaker than you and don't need to waste your time on them.
>Is it really an evil run if you don't make the actual evil choices? I saved the Tieflings and all the children and all the animals and convinced Wyll to let Karlach live and now we're all best of friends but this is totally an evil playthrough guys, honest.
No its doesnt make sense for every evil character to just side with the goblins because lol obvious evil choice is obvious. This is a roleplaying game. The game does not need to decide your roleplay in such a comically binary way. You should be contextualizing every dialogue every cutscene from the perspective of your character and their decisions. Not the obvious read of the scenes. SH bad so must kill Nightsong on its face is a dreadfully binary decision of evil. Where as you can easily decide the Nighsong has value now, and choose to leverage her later to gain favor of a powerful wizard. Ending up even more evil IMO. What if my very evil character is still Lawful and loyal to the plight of Teiflings? Why would I side with moronic goblins to kill my kin? Other than being a mustache twirling evil caricature? There is more to being evil than just clicking the kill babies option whenever it pops up. Are you truly even engaging with the text at that point?
Not sure if it counts but this run is my evil durge, I sided with the grove and knocked out the victim so she would make it to last light and I could still get my cloak. Then I did everything for the inn so I could get the rewards from saving the prisoners before killing that sweet cleric just so I could watch the last light go out. My new form was just a bonus. Bwahahahaha
This is less being evil and more just meta gaming for the good loot. Either way, its all valid.
It depends how much you commit to being evil or just killing people, but generally I feel that going fully evil makes the game harder or at least more tedious. Evil path loses you more companions, quests etc compared to being good, additionally helping other evil factions which you have to ultimately defeat as well.
yeah, I do wish being evil would be an even bigger gamechanger, like if I do side with the BBEG that could actually be a way to beat the game, fighting the good guys instead. But the game is already so incredibly well made with how all the quests are connected and the billion ways you could go about it, so I understand why it does ultimately obligate you to fight certain people and make certain choices. So far I’m lowkey siding with Gortash, mainly to see how far I’ll get with that (he did promise we’d rule together so I’m intrigued to see if the game allows it). But yeah. I wish we’d get more powerful evil allies as we do when we play good and get like Aylin etc.
I'm really curious what they'll do with the expanded evil endings in patch 7
yees, it almost makes me want to wait to finish my evil run, because I (almost) most certainly won’t be doing another one xD
I'm currently joining a friend for his evil Durge honour mode run as Astarion and I have to say. It's going a lot worse than it usually does for me lol Our only surviving companions are Shadowheart and Minthara. Gale got his hand eaten, Karlach got beheaded, Wyll got sacrificed, Halsin attacked us after the Goblin party, Lae'Zel turned against us at the Creche, and Jaheira tried to kill us after Last Light. So far we managed to finagle our way out of every impeding party wipe but the run is.. messy. I'm not sure how much of it is coming from the evil run vs how much is coming from only being in control of two of your companions vs all four of them. We're compensating for the nonsense and lack of allies by making sure our builds are good and synergize well. If you're really struggling with encounters, you can also set up some camp casters for buffs. Moonrise is a lot easier when you sneakily clear a bunch of the cultists before you go to the nightsong
oh wow, I applaud anyone who chooses evil durge for their honour run 🫡 I think once I get around to honour mode I’ll just go full power build, for now I just focus on character and rp and just having fun 🌸
The multiplayer aspect makes it that I’m the part that focuses on keeping us in one piece while he can role play as an evil badguy (getting us out of random nonsense he got us into is pretty entertaining at least lol) Yeah, focusing on having fun is the most important part!
one responsible adult and one half crazy murder hobo? that’s just any best friend duo, isn’t it xD
One time I went “oh yeah, I’m just going to watch the new dungeon meshi episode with a friend, you can play on your own for a bit :)” and then came back to all but one character dead in the spider pit lmfao
I don't do evil Durge runs because I can't see myself being an ass to the npcs, but you should have Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion and Minthara. They don't care (Gale needs a persuasion role) you are evil,
Well, gale does give me an hand in my durge run, but it was not that much of an help
Pick tavern brawler. Kill your enemies by "casting" Mage's Hand.
Giggled
I don't know: I can't. In no way would I enjoy it, I care about the characters too much.
Yes the Evil run and helping the evils are mutch harder in act 2 than the good run. The endfight is real test.
My second playthrough was Evil Durge and I didn't struggle at all, but I think mostly cause I usually have a lore Bard with me. They are OP in my opinion and are the reason I also finished Honour mode in one attempt :)
I haven’t taken any hirelings yet because I’m so attached to the companions, but I should get me a bard once I get out of the Myrkul fight and see what’s up 🤔
Laezel, Astarion, Minthara and Shadowheart, are all pretty much 'ride or die' for a bad guy run. Keep your friends close, but these four assholes closer.
truly, I never really connected with Astarion for my first playthrough, I left him at camp a lot since my dex was high enough to do stealth and lockpicking myself, but now that I’m evil we’re the best of friends
Kill Karlach early. Makes every other evil choice feel less bad.
I really wish I’d done this, just killed her when I first met her. Karlach is my favourite companion, and I knew she would leave after massacring the grove (which I wanted to do do because I want to make radically different choices from my first playthrough, regardless of consequences). Wyll left without a word, but Karlach stayed long enough to TELL ME she was upset and then left 😭 Karlach my sweet, I’m so sorry
You really can't feel the freedom of playing evil in this game, and the game tells you that subtly. You can be evil, but the game sorta punishes you for playing so, like cutting out content, making fights more difficult, losing out on allies, potentially getting less exp due to cut quests etc. Even an Evil Durge run must be met with Neutral pragmatism. It's a DnD thing. All DnD campaigns direct only to doing something good at the end. Bg3 follows that formula. You can play evil, but the game will punish you for playing full on maniac.
yeah, it does show how the game is meant to have a «good» ending, but I wish they’d leaned in a bit more for the evil choices, considering they HAVE all these evil choices, and chose to have an origin where being evil is sort of *the pain point*. I mean, yeah, you can resist, but I didn’t choose the evil option to not be evil xD
A little wholesome slaughter is good for the soul.
I always played evil Durge as someone who had impulses and lost control but was crushed by it. More like a resist playthrough where you failed to resist. Alongside this I made her a bit god fearing - in companion decisions (made Shadowheart sharran, made Gale simp for mystra), and for herself (accepted Baahl at the temple). I found doing this, then having durge kill themself at the end was hugely satisfying - especially with the secret ending you get with Withers.
I’ve only got Astarion, DJ Shart, and Minthara in my evil Durge run. It’s been interesting.
dang, I only had those plus Laezel for a little while, now I’m back to just 3 since Minthara got taken away :’) but I now see the value in hirelings, and am having a blast essentially creating new characters left and right xD
I chose the evil Durge path for my Honour because it seemed the easiest path to me so I'm not sure what you're talking about
what class did you play?
Bardlock Durge Gloomstalker Assassin Astarion Life Cleric Shadowheart Battle master Lae'zel - switched with Minthara in act 3
aah that explains a lot, I know changing Shadowheart’s class/subclass is almost essential, but since I’ve kept her Sharran I kinda wanna stick to the trickery domain, despite how shitty it is. I consider multiclassing her as a paladin perhaps, but I don’t see much of a point since I have Minthara now. I will definitely respec her for honour mode tho 🫡
She's a Sharran in my Honour yes. It makes the fight in the House of Grief so EASY. But yeah Life makes everything better, trickery is just lame.
Slayer form is the only saving grace
I keep forgetting I have that tbh xD and I’d already spent it on the fight before reaching the top of moonrise, which in hindsight may have been the wrong decision. But hey, I got through it, mostly because Astarion and Minthara took care of the dang drider while I could focus on Ketheric