We played through as a vengeance paladin, life cleric, evoker and rogue. We also played through as heroes, doing all of the heroic side quests except Us and the crossroads Gith and taking all of the good options. And in the end, we chose to fight instead of sacrificing our friend.
Was it difficult? Yes. But can you be a hero and beat honor mode? Oh yes. We did it our very first try.
@TwoBeeSan we succeeded on our first attempt and we did it by being heroes. We took the heroic path every time. Honestly, I feel like you haven't REALLY bested Honor Mode unless you've played through as a hero.
These mortal lives did not expire. And we took the fight to Big Squishy without sacrificing our robed friend, robbed the devil in his own house, and taught the fae a deadly lesson twice.