Baldur’s Gate 3 does a great job of designing Magical Items and Special Loot in a way that makes them actually feel worthwhile. The drop rate for even the lowest Special Item tier, Uncommon, is still rare enough that you don’t become desensitized to seeing that green border around an item. These items are actually genuinely useful as well—to the extent that we’re still using three Uncommon Items from Act One in the third and final act of Baldur’s Gate 3.
We’ve noticed a trend in many RPGs nowadays where, toward the beginning of the game, you upgrade gear constantly. About halfway through that frequency drops greatly, and then towards the end you’re likely going to stop equipping new drops altogether.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has a very refreshing pace in this sense; loot upgrades seem to be evenly balanced throughout the game, you won’t be overwhelmed by early upgrade frequency, and you won’t ever stop upgrading entirely.
This can be attributed to the fact that loot in Baldur’s Gate 3, just like the sidequests, are not radiant or procedural generated—they are all designed by “hand” with specific intentions. When low rarity items aren’t simply the product of an algorithm mixing and matching various qualities and statistics deemed appropriate for the character’s level, the items tend to become much more, well, good. They don’t simply offer a stat boost, they offer unique features that can be capitalized on with creativity.
3 “low-tier” items you’ll use forever in Baldur’s Gate 3
We’ve found that Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of those games where you want to keep several items for each equipment slot ready to go. For example, you can equip a necklace that can restore a Spell Slot while out of combat, and then go back to your typical necklace before the next fight. In spite of this, there are three low-rarity items that we have had equipped on a party member for literally the entire game.
Gloves of the Growling Underdog
Dror Ragzlin is one of the first real boss fights you’ll struggle through in Baldur’s Gate 3, so it naturally follows that you should get a decent reward for defeating him. However, you don’t even actually have to kill the Hobgoblin Cultist to get these Gauntlets, just loot them from the chest behind his throne.
The Gloves of the Growling Underdog have a very simple feature attached to them: they grant Advantage on Attack Rolls so long as two or more enemies are nearby. This creates a phenomenal build option for Rogues, Barbarians, or basically any melee class.
Rogues, for example, must have Advantage to apply their Sneak Attack damage boost. Usually, this means striking from the shadows, but Gloves of the Growling Underdog enable a Rogue to use Sneak Attack while in plain sight. This allows for Rogue builds similar to the Swashbuckler Subclass in Dungeons & Dragons, as well as multiclassing into Fighter for a lithe duelist sort of feel.
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On a Barbarian, Reckless Attack grants Advantage, with the trade-off of enemies having Advantage against you until the start of your next turn. These gauntlets essentially grant the Reckless Attack buff permanently and without any of the drawbacks. If you still happen to miss an attack, you can activate Reckless Attack and receive Double Advantage. Your Barbarian will never miss again.
Necklace of Elemental Augmentation
This one is a little bit “closer” to the end of Act One, though technically you can of course retrieve this necklace at any time—you’ll just have to be careful if you do it before level four. During the Githyanki Creche questline, follow the path down to the beach from the Open Hand Monastery. You’ll find this necklace within a chest on the wrecked ship.
The Necklace of Elemental Augmentation allows your Spellcasting Modifier to be applied to any Elemental (Fire, Cold, Thunder, Lightning) Damage that you deal. This alone is a fantastic buff for any caster, but if you’re a little creative, it can get even better.
Eldritch Blast is considered the best Cantrip in Baldur’s Gate 3 specifically because Warlocks are able to select an Invocation that applies their Charisma Modifier to its damage. Because of this, many guides will recommend taking two levels in Warlock no matter your caster class to gain access to this Cantrip. With this Necklace, Firebolt is just as powerful. It gets better still.
Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers are able to select an element to which they will add their Charisma Modifier, and this can stack with the Necklace of Elemental Augmentation allowing for a whopping 10 additional damage to automatically apply to your Cantrips.
Warped Headband of Intellect
This Headband is found on Lump the Enlightened, an Ogre located in Blighted Village. You can recruit Lump’s services and have him aid you a single time in battle, but you are MUCH better off killing him and looting this item.
The Warped Headband of Intellect grants its wearer an Intelligence Score of 17. It does not matter what your Intelligence Score was beforehand—with this item equipped you receive a plus three Modifier to Intelligence Spell Rolls and Skill Checks.
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Suddenly, this allows you to multiclass into Wizard no matter your Intelligence score. You can intentionally treat it as a Dump Stat, allotting points to other areas, and simply equip the Headband when you want to use a Wizard Spell.
In the same way, you can equip this item before making any Intelligence Skill Check, of which there are many. There is virtually no reason for this item to ever leave your inventory—it is downright phenomenal no matter how a character is built.
One more awesome thing about this item that the game doesn’t really warn you about: The Firebolt Cantrip awarded as a High Elf Racial Bonus uses Intelligence for Attack Rolls no matter your class. Many players might be tempted into playing a High Elf Sorcerer or Warlock simply for the free extra Cantrip, only to learn that it’s basically useless because they put all their points into Charisma and not Intelligence. Equip the Warped Headband of Intellect, and that problem is solved.
