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Increasing your character’s level is the main source of power inBaldur’s Gate 3.Every time a class levels up, they’ll increase their health pool, gain access to new class features, and occasionally earn a feat or ability score improvement. Leveling up is a critical part of the Baldur’s Gate 3 experience, so it’s important to understand how XP works.
Min-maxing isn’t necessary to reach the level cap in a playthrough, but learning how Baldur’s Gate 3 handles experience points can help with preparing your characters for a tough Act boss or quest chain. We’ll cover how XP scaling works in Baldur’s Gate 3, the general level progression you can expect from each Act without spoilers, and we’ll cover the best sources of XP.
Updated Aug 03, 2025, by Sean Murray:If you’re looking for how to level up in Baldur’s Gate 3, this guide has you covered. We’ve recently given it a formatting pass to make it a little easier to read, given it more breakout tips to help maximize your XP gains, and also given it more links to other helpful Baldur’s Gate 3 topics.
Reaching The Level Cap
XP in Baldur’s Gate 3 works similarly to most CRPGs andFifth Edition D&D.Defeating enemies, completing quests, and exploring Faerun will grant XP to your entire party.Players and NPC companions receive the same XP from all sources; it isn’t divided or reduced in any way. Earn enough XP, and you’ll be able to level up. You can open your menu to level up when enough XP has been acquired, provided your party isn’t currently in combat.
The level capin Baldur’s Gate 3is Level 12.
In general,XP gains in Baldur’s Gate 3 follow an ‘S’ scaling curve.The first few levels come incredibly fast, followed by three levels that come fairly slowly. This repeats for Levels 7-12 as well, although the last three levels are earned much faster than one would expect due to drastically increased monster XP gains in Act 3.
1
300
2
600
3
1,800
4
3,800
5
6,500
6
8,000
7
9,000
8
12,000
9
14,000
10
20,000
11
24,000
12
N/A
Level Ranges For Each Act
Levels 1-5are earned during the first Act of Baldur’s Gate 3, and it is here where leveling can feel inconsistent.The first three levels come quicklydue to how Fifth Edition D&D is tuned. Players will typically reach Level 2 after the tutorial and Level 3 roughly thereafter. It is the next two levels that take much longer, requiring nearly twice as much XP to reach Level 4 and another 2,700 XP to reach Level 5.
Since Act 1’s content has so much level variance, this Act might feel the least consistent.Killing enemies whenever possible is recommendedto offset this, something we discuss in the “Best XP Sources” section.
Levels 6-9are experienced during Act 2. XP gains are far more consistent in this Act due to a small level gap between areas, a more focused quest structure, and the overall power spike players experience after reaching Level 5. So long as youcomplete most of theside questsavailable, reaching Level 9 should be a fairly smooth process.
Levels 9-12require the most XP to reach but are paradoxically the easiest levels to earn. This is becauseAct 3 enemies grant a massive amount of XPwhen slain, and most encounters have at least half a dozen enemies.Don’t avoid combat encounterswhen possible, and you should reach the level cap within a few hours of starting Act 3.
HittingLevel 12is fairly easy at this point, so most players shouldfocus on completing side content and obtaining better items.
Best XP Sources
Nearly everything in Baldur’s Gate 3 offers experience points to your party, and most of these sources can be boiled down into three categories: combat, questing, and inspiration.Combat is the largest source of XP in Baldur’s Gate 3, followed by quest progression.Any combat encounters with high-level enemies or high enemy density will provide major XP gains for your party.
Progressing throughmain and side questswillalso grant a ton of XPto your party, especially if those quests involve combat.
Combat
Combat serves as theprimary source of XP in Baldur’s Gate 3. Enemies that are near the party’s current level will provide much more XP than enemies of a lower level, and combat encounters with more enemies will yield more XP. None of that is particularly surprising, but what is strange is how combat XP compares to XP earned from social checks.
From our experience with a 100-hour playthrough,fighting enemies seems to give more XP than solving situations diplomatically,although it is more than possible to reach Level 12 by using non-violent methods across your entire playthrough; you don’t have to kill everything to level quickly.
The most optimal XP strategy is to solve conflicts with diplomacy, and then kill the enemies you just negotiated with.This strategy can be used in areas likethe Goblin Camp in Act 1to great effect. It is by no means required to reach the level cap, but this is technically the most efficient means of earning XP.
Quests
Outside of slaying monsters, the fastest way to level is tocomplete every quest you stumble across. Progressing through the main quest and completing side content is a great way to earn a few levels.Focus on completing side content in each Act, as most Act side quests become unavailable once you start a new Act.
Quite a few side quests also turn into full-blown quest chains in later Acts, most of which appear during Act 3. Don’t ignore side content in Baldur’s Gate 3, as it’s where some of the best items and narrative moments are found.
Inspiration
An underappreciated source of XP is inspiration. Whenever a character performs an action befitting their background, they’ll gain inspiration, allowing you to reroll dialogue checks.If your party already has four stacks of inspiration, all future inspiration earned will be converted into XP instead, generating 25-250 XP for each instance of inspiration.
Inspiring your party happens naturally throughout your playthrough.Take a moment to view your party’s backgroundsbefore adventuring, andtry to perform any actions that would gain their approval. More often than not, this will trigger a source of inspiration. Role-playing is rewarded in Baldur’s Gate 3, although it won’t overtake questing or combat in terms of XP gained per hour.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
