Baldur’s Gate 3 players love the game’s “optimal” useless equipment

While there are plenty of rare and powerful items in Baldur’s Gate 3, players are amused by a seemingly good but useless piece of equipment.

Like many other RPGs, Baldur’s Gate 3 has lots of items for players to collect. Outside of Legendary weapons, spell scrolls, and armor, you’re bound to pick up plenty of junk that’s only good for selling to vendors for some gold.

Among these are the game’s fishing rods. Though fishing mini-games have become common in video games of late, Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t actually have one.

Still, Larian Studios has given players reasons to interact with some useless items thanks to clever item descriptions, including one that has players amused.

Baldur’s Gate 3 fishing rod teases a helpful effect

Reddit user Immrlonely98 shared a screenshot of the Fishing Rod of Alertness, calling it the “Most optimal piece of equipment in the game.”

Based on the item’s name, description and uncommon status, it at first appears to be more useful than other fishing rods. It says “The wielder of this rod cannot be Surprised,” referencing a status condition that gives the opponent an additional round of combat.

Having immunity to Surprised is really useful, but the item does come with a pretty big caveat: “unless something unexpected happens.”

That, of course, is the very definition of surprise, making the Fishing Rod of Alertness just as useless as every other rod in the game.

It’s a pretty funny joke item, but at least one player was fooled by it. “I actually bought this in my first playthrough and was surprised when got ambushed,” said one commenter, prompting another to joke “All sales are final.”

For those who actually want a way to avoid being surprised, the Alert feat does that while also giving an incredibly helpful +5 boost to Initiative.

Others have pointed out additional useless items with funny names or descriptions, such as the Ring of Resistance to Ants. “Needless to say, I’ve never been bothered by ants,” said one player.

Items like these are pretty minor and easy to overlook in a game as huge as Baldur’s Gate 3, but it speaks to the attention to detail put into every aspect of the game and why it has won so many Game of the Year awards.

If you liked this, be sure to check out the rest of our Baldur’s Gate 3 coverage, which includes the latest news, guides, and much more.