Explosive Barrel Cheese

[Butcher Bill]

I managed to severely wound the Hag and kill the Giant spider by using mage hand to punt a couple barrels into position next to the bosses before detonating them with fireballs and so now I'm just wondering; how far can you take this particular cheese?

[DeMasked]

Scripted fights it won't work or being unable to go back to camp to get more barrels with a split up party.

[EricHVela]

The official Launch video actively encourages it by showing someone blowing up everyone trying to go through Baldur's Gate's Baldur's Gate [sic]. I'm guessing pretty far.

[Irinka]

I remember seeing a youtube video of some guy completing the game at level 1. All he did for the full game was this cheese.

[Mojo]

More effort than it is worth. Have a good team can take all fights down fairly easy. There may be only 2 fights in entire game (Even on Honor mode) that are hard.

[Zeel Ara]

Barrelmancy has been the prime way to cheese Larian games for a long time. A lot of people hoped that it wouldn't make it into BG3 as well, but I guess the developers think it's good design. On par with carrying around a candle so you can "dip" your weapon in fire.

[Evangeline]

Originally posted by Ratley:

Barrelmancy has been the prime way to cheese Larian games for a long time. A lot of people hoped that it wouldn't make it into BG3 as well, but I guess the developers think it's good design. On par with carrying around a candle so you can "dip" your weapon in fire.

I was one of those people. This and the "throw your shoes at people to kill them" are 2 things I hate about Larian games. I suppose it makes for "good fun" in multiplayer.

[Brian_the_Brute]

You can take it all the way to hell by putting them around the 4 pillars in Avernus

[Metallicus]

The barrels are fun, but I haven’t really used them much since Early Access. I am pleased that Larian kept them in the game.

[Chaosolous]

With a few exceptions, as far as you want to take it.

I have a buddy who sends every explosive barrel to camp in case he wants to use them later.

[Something completely different]

If you can cast fireballs at the hag battle you were overlevelled to start with.

[Brian_the_Brute]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

With a few exceptions, as far as you want to take it.

I have a buddy who sends every explosive barrel to camp in case he wants to use them later.

I send them all the camp too, but never end up using them because I am a loot ho.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by Butcher Bill:

I managed to severely wound the Hag and kill the Giant spider by using mage hand to punt a couple barrels into position next to the bosses before detonating them with fireballs and so now I'm just wondering; how far can you take this particular cheese?

Oh, that's just Barrelmancy 101.

It's a bit tricky to itemize (barrels can be between 25-40lbs a pop, so the best Barrelmancer is ironically enough a Bear Aspect Totem Barbarian for the insane encumbrance stat of 1,240lbs at 27 STR - or 800lbs at 20 STR), but easy to plan out in scenarios where you can sneak barrels in.

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Some basic properties of Barrelmancy:

- Firewine Barrels weigh 40lbs a piece and are usually located in most areas with high traffic (Goblin Camp, Last Light Inn, Winery at Rosymorn that's occupied by the smolbolds, that sort of stuff). You can explode one of these for 4d6+18 fire damage (averaging 32 or 16 on a successful DEX), then creating a 2 turn hazard in the affected area which Burns targets within (1d4 fire damage per turn, removed from healing potions and the Wet condition).

- Smokepowder Barrels are much higher quality, weighing only 25lbs and dealing 2d6+4d4+18 force damage (averaging 35, or 21 on a successful DEX save), and 2d6 fire damage (7 average, 3.5 on successful DEX), while also creating the fire hazard from earlier. These are rarer than Firewine, however; but you can still get a massive stock of Smokepowder Barrels from the Goblin Camp or if you complete the Grove Raid without exploding the traps set by the tieflings.

- Nautiloid Tanks are particularly hard to come by, only really available on the Nautiloid and in the endgame, with a couple being present in Creche Y'Llek. They explode for 6d6 fire damage (21 average, 10.5 on yadda yadda) and weigh 25lbs.

- Oil Barrels are the heavier versions of Nautiloid Tanks at 40lbs. They can be found in areas similar to Firewine and Smokepowder Barrels.

- The rarest form of this is the incredible Runepowder Barrel. Only 3 exist in the game: 1 by Philomeen, and 2 with the Ironhands in Act III. Once exploded, it creates a MASSSIVE area of effect, dealing 10d8+40 force damage within it (averages are 85 and 42.5). These weight 35lbs.

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A few tips:
- Be aware of your environment. Best uses of Barrelmancy tend to go for efficiency over extravagancy, knowing the averages of your barrels to determine how many need to go where. An example is the main antechamber of the Goblin Camp's Shattered Sanctum. It takes about 5 Smokepowder Barrels evenly spread over the main area to cover all the goblins (usually needing at least 2 to hit Priestess Gut since she has 40HP; if she saves against one or if one rolls low on the damage she can actually survive and aggro the zone), and they can be ignited by dropping one of the braziers from the top rope.
- A little math goes a long way with Barrelmancy. By being mindful of target HP totals and the average damage of your barrels, you can optimize the use of them by placing the correct number in strategic points to efficiently spread out damage. The Siege of Moonrise Towers is a great example of this: You'll need about 4 Smokepowder Barrels within blast range of the center of the main area, enough to take Z'Rell out in one go. The Zealots will need 2 to 3, but can be hit by the same barrels as the ones targeting Z'Rell. A layout of about 6 to 8 in a hex or diamond pattern will be enough to either completely wipe the first encounter, or decimate it enough for Jaheira's Harpers to easily clean up.
- Whatever you don't need to carry, send to camp. They can be stored in the camp chest. The area where mobs start neutral but will inevitably go hostile are easily cheesed by Barrelmancy without the need of the Bear Aspect Barbarian, if you remember to move them from camp to the appropriate zone beforehand. One really good spot for this is the Guildhall fight, since the start of the fight will have the two factions cleanly separated from each other such that you can effectively cover one half of the Guild with minimal casualties.

[Callirgos]

Barrel Cheese is a Larian birthright. Its fun though.

It would be great if there were less combat barrels depending on difficulty setting.

[XGear]

Yes, in this game the only best companion you can have is the good Barrel.

Barrels do not turn into Bear to dumdum da dum with you
Barrels Do not come at night to suck your blood or acting weird
Barrels Do not ask for Magic moments with you
Barrels do not ask to Dance with you
Barrels do not tell you that he want to "taste" you
Barrels do not worship shar
Barrels do not consume your HP potions
Barrels do not fail to follow you, he can wait patient in camp or on your inventory
Barrels do not nee to be ressurrected
Barrels do not disaprove your actions
Barrels do not ask you for equipment to be functional
Barrels do not Speak with you all the time
Barrels do not have feelings, you can use and discard them without remorse.

And in the end of the day, Barrels can kill everything and everyone for you and you dont even need to thank them becouse this is what they do, the only thing the barrel need from you, is just a initial fire as a commando to act.

Then, kill all companions and make a pact with barrels, the true companion of BG3


https://youtu.be/YS59KAJOXmk?si=x10XAxOl9-7v8xTG

[Dr.Abscondus]

I had a problem with Jaheira at Last Light Inn gate which escalated. I could have reloaded a save, but I wanted to see how it would play out. She's a tough opponent. I finally had to take her down with Astarion the Suicide Bomber. I had him drop a powder barrel right in from of her then light it up. I imagined him screaming, 'Nobody will ever control me again!'. I resurrected him so it was all good, not so much for Jaheira though. Turns out she's pretty irrelevant in the game, so I never reloaded the save. Lot's of room at the Inn now and Isobel doesn't care.