Baldur’s Gate 3 is, unquestionably, the 2023 game of the year. However, bugs litter the game’s otherwise stellar reputation, including the long-lived Shield Bash glitch—a reaction that should be fantastic for protecting frontliners against dangerous melee combatants, but instead remains completely broken and constantly whiffing five months after release.
Frustrated players flocked to discuss Shield Bash’s horrifying state of limbo. Some players in the thread have reported it functioning several patches ago, though most note its failure to function over the course of the game’s hotfix-filled history.
The ability in question is a reaction which, upon taking melee damage, should allow the user to knock their attacker prone—with a Dexterity saving throw to negate. However, at the moment, you simply get an animation and then nothing. No saving throw, no getting tripped up—just two melee fighters staring at one another.
Watching Shield Bash activate and then not do a single thing is mind-boggling. Shield Bash is given to more than 10 different shields in your BG3 arsenal, ranging from the early-game Shield of Devotion to later-game options like the Shield of the Undevout. This range of accessibility makes it commonplace for players.
Players aren’t the only ones getting their reaction stolen, though. Even powerful enemies, like the final boss of Act Two, will swing their shield at your party members and watch helplessly as their reaction is taken up for no reason.
BG3 is filled to the brim with incredible moments and excellent adventures, which is why these glaring bugs on wide-spread abilities are so jarring. Larian will hopefully start taking a peek at actions like these which are well-distributed and yet see no use, due entirely to a growing list of the game’s most persistent bugs. And we’re not even talking about the mind worms.
