This Baldur’s Gate 3 series covers how to do
all major quests and missable content in order so that all achievements or trophies, choices,
and major rewards will be available. We will be striving to get the most optimal or good outcome
for all companions, recruit the most allies, obtain all Legendary Weapons and Armor, and
have an overall satisfying playthrough. For best results, follow this series from the
start of Part 1. Spoilers will be limited to important information and as usual, useful
timestamps can be found in the video description. Before starting, if you enjoyed this series
and want to help it reach more people, you can do so by liking the
video, I sincerely appreciate it. Part 3 of this series will take
us through the entirety of Act 3, which takes place in Rivington and
the Lower City of Baldur’s Gate. At the end of Part 2, we were
still in the Shadow Cursed Lands. Before leaving for Baldur’s Gate, we will want
to make sure we’ve looted all of the zealots, Z’rell, Tarv, and other bodies within and in
front of Moonrise Towers. There is thousands of gold here in armor and weapons, which we will
definitely make use of in Act 3 as there are tons of awesome items to buy from merchants. Whatever
we can’t hold, we can just send to camp for now. We can also head up to the second floor. If
we go to Balthazar’s Secret chamber with Gale, we can create a Shadow Lantern by interacting
with the Ritual Circle. However, it is suggested that Mystra would disapprove. Because of this, I
personally did not craft the Shadow Lantern and erased the Shadow Sigil instead. In any case,
the Shadow Lantern only allows us to summon a pet Shadow once per long rest, and it’s
really not all that strong or worthwhile. While here, we can speak with Gale about
the Crown of Karsus. We can agree to visit Sorcerous Sundries with him in Baldur’s Gate,
which will also gain us some approval. He will also tell us about Mystra’s presence, which
he felt when destroying the Shadow Sigils. Once we’ve done that and are ready to leave,
we can fast travel to the Road to Baldur’s Gate and head into Act 3. I recommend making
a manual save before we go “To Baldur’s Gate” Doing this will unlock “The City
Awaits” achievement, and we should also see a cinematic that shows the results
of our efforts in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. We should avoid using any consumables as
this next day will be very short-lived, and we are already set to take a long rest. Before
we do that though, we should explore this area, Wyrm’s Lookout. First, there is a neat easter
egg if we go stand at the northmost point, which overlooks Baldur’s Gate. Standing
there will trigger the song “I Want to Live” to start playing, this version with sung
lyrics. We normally hear the instrumental version play at camp, so it’s interesting
to hear the lyrics that go along with it. While here, we can find and speak
to Astarion about Cazador, and we should probably start dissuading Astarion
from following in Cazador’s footsteps, as well as agree to help him find
his fellow spawn in the city. Next up, I want to get Jaheira in the party.
The reason is that, for the most part, Jaheira is one of the most fleshed out characters
when it comes to Act 3, so we definitely get the most out of having her on full time. Now
we just need to choose who she replaces. I would recommend choosing a character that
is not a primary love interest. For me, that is Shadowheart. We will get her back in the
party for the quests that relate to her in Act 3, but otherwise we can have Jaheira fill her spot. To keep things simple, I am just going to
be respeccing Jaheira as a Cleric, and will transfer Shadowheart’s equipment over to her. Once
Jaheira is in the party, we can take her over to Withers near the east side of camp to change her
class. The most lore-friendly Deity for Jaheira would be Mielikki, but I don’t think this choice
will significantly impact gameplay. If we want, we can also take one level in the Wizard class.
This will allow us to learn the Haste spell if we have a scroll with it, and that can make
Jaheira a lot more useful in certain encounters. Now if you want to replace Lae’zel or Karlach
instead of Shadowheart, that is also fine, and you can respec Jaheira to fill any role
you want or need in the party. The only thing I would suggest is to keep your primary romance
interest in the party as a permanent member. Once Jaheira is fully leveled up and
appropriately geared, we can go to bed. This will trigger an event, and all we need to
do for this first phase is reach the portal. Defeating the Githyanki is unnecessary.
We can also take this moment to use an Elixir of Hill Giant Strength on our Monk
as there will be some fairly tough combat ahead. We should probably refrain
from using a Soul Coin on Karlach, though. I found it easiest to reach the
portal on a character with Misty Step. Within the Astral Plane, we will need to make
our way over to a large Skull-like structure, defeating a duo of Githyanki along the
way. We can freely use our spell slots and sorcery points here, as there are only
2 encounters before our next long rest. Upon reaching the central structure,
a cutscene will play out. In order to eventually get the “Mind Blown” achievement,
we will need to act kindly towards the Emperor, that includes siding with them
against the Githyanki. In general, we should try to be open and kind to the
Emperor to gain their trust and confidence. Haste, Step of the Wind: Dash, and
Stunning Strikes are all very useful here, allowing us to go around and
incapacitate our enemies. These Githyanki are capable of dealing
a lot of damage if allowed to act. Once all of the Githyanki are
dealt with, we can have a more thorough conversation with The Emperor,
learning a great deal in the process. We will eventually be given the
choice to evolve our Illithid powers, with the aid of an Astral-Touched Tadpole. If we
decline the offer, we will be given the Tadpole, which can be used at any time. We will
cover the implications of using this special tadpole in a moment, but first,
let’s finish up here in the Astral Plane. Before leaving, we should loot all of
the Githyanki we fought. Their leader will have the Boots of the Uninhibited
Kushigo, which are great for a Monk. Once we leave the Astral Prism, we can speak
with Lae’zel about Orpheus. To put it bluntly, we should agree that Vlaakith
is bad and Orpheus is good. Afterwards, we can take our final
long rest before going to the city. Before we get started for the day, let’s cover the Astral-Touched Tadpole
and the implications of using it. Personally, I probably won’t be
using this item. That being said, we can make a save and then use it to see
what happens. We will undergo a serious cosmetic change in the face, looking all the
more ugly for it. But from everything I know, and in the current state of the game,
that is the only real downside. You can check the pinned comment to see if this
has been changed in future game updates. If we go to our Illithid Powers, the outermost
Illithid Powers will now be obtainable, which are the most advanced and powerful
abilities. Unlocking any ability with a tadpole will also give us the “Expand Your
Mind” Achievement, if we don’t already have it. Our companions will also react to our use of
the tadpole, some more negatively than others, but their actual approval won’t change. After
we’ve opened our minds to the Astral-Touched tadpole, it will be easier to convince our
companions to do the same, even Lae’zel. All that being said, I won’t be using
the Astral-Touched Tadpole. This way, I won’t have an advantage in combat over
anyone following this guide that does not use the tadpole either. However, if you do make
use of it, the game will definitely become easier. Also, if you use the Astral-Touched Tadpole and
notice any changes to dialogue options or gameplay when compared to my own, please let me know in
the comments as I am very curious about that. So, with all of that out of the way, I will be reverting back to the
save before I used the Tadpole. At this point, we can go ahead and do some of our
daily preparation, although we will probably want to avoid using any consumables. We can then
leave camp, which will bring us to Rivington. Now, there is a ton of stuff to do here.
However, for the most fulfilling experience (and without getting into spoilers) we will
want to focus on completing Jaheira’s Quest first. Don’t worry though, we will be coming
back here soon enough. We will also be doing a bit of power gaming, outfitting our party
with the strongest items as early as possible, so that we can get the most out
of them during this final act. For these reasons, we are going to head north, directly down the main road. We will be stopped
by a girl named Yenna before getting very far, and we can offer her some gold or food
to gain approval from our companions. If we approach the Steel Watch
at the South Span Checkpoint, we will trigger an encounter that could
cost us 200 gold. I tend to sneak around the checkpoint by climbing down the
knotted roots to the east. From there, we can jump over to the side structures of Wyrm’s
Crossing, and climb the rest of the way up. We will need to make a quick stop in Sharess'
Caress, which is right next to the fast travel point. For now, we will be going to a
specific location. It is up two sets of stairs, on the 3rd floor. We will want to
avoid the Nymph’s Grotto until after our next long rest. For now, we will be going
straight to the room marked as “Devil’s Den” During the conversation that follows, we will
need to turn down Raphael’s deal. Afterwards, we can speak with Lae’zel and assure her that
we will take the Orphic Hammer from the House of Hope. It is very important that we head back
downstairs to speak Kith’rak Voss. Along the way, The Emperor will ask about our deal with Raphael,
to which we can honestly say “I turned him down.” Speaking with Kith’rak, we can once again
be honest, saying “No. I will find another way to liberate Orpheus.” Doing this should
avert any potential bugs with Voss’s quest, which could otherwise prevent us from getting the Silver Sword of the Astral Plane (assuming
we didn’t already get it back in Act 1). One last thing, we can speak
with the Dwarf named Korilla, near the bar. She will have something
to say about our meeting with Raphael. Next, we’ll get Astarion in the party,
temporarily turn off the sunlight passive of Lathander’s Blood, and go to the
second floor of Fraygo’s Flophouse, it is just across the street from Sharess'
Caress. There, we can speak with Petras to trigger a significant story moment with
Astarion. Given that he is a master of manipulation, it is probably best if we let
him handle the situation. That being said, it is probably for the best if we can talk
Astarion out of killing his brother. Once again, we probably shouldn’t outright agree
to help him complete the ritual. With that taken care of, we can reassemble
the party, then head further north into Wyrm’s Crossing. Two of the most useful
shops are near the end of the crossing, on the west side. We can go up to the top
floor to the Alchemy & Potions Shop. This is just one of the several shops where we
can find Elixirs of Cloud Giant Strength, which are extremely powerful, along
with potions of speed and flying. We can then head downstairs
to Danthelons Dancing Axe. Speaking with Entharl will trigger a special
interaction with Jaheira, which will also progress her quest. We can also look at Entharl’s
stock, even if it annoys Jaheira. He will often have useful potions and elixirs. On top of
that, he sells one of the best pieces of gear, the Cloak of Displacement. There is also
the Garb of The Land and Sky, which could be good for our monk, although we will be getting
something better fairly soon. Because of that, we might want to just save our gold. I should
also mention here that we are going to go through a lot of thieves’ tools during act
3, so take every opportunity to stock up. Once we’ve finished shopping, we can use a Potion
of Mindreading, equip our Headband of Intellect, then head through the locked door and down
the ladder. We should also have Jaheira use Guidance on us before we initiate the
encounter. During it, if we succeed on a passive insight check, we can then perform
a Detect Thoughts skill check. If we succeed, we will gain approval from Jaheira, as
well as the opportunity to gain surprise. For reasons that contain heavy spoilers,
this will be our only combat encounter before our next long rest, so we can
pull out all the stops for this fight. Afterwards, we can speak with Harper
Geraldus. To gain approval with Jaheira, we can say “Wait, Jaheira…” followed
by “This talk of the Rashemaar…” We can then speak with Jaheira
to learn more about her mission, and we will eventually want
to say “Then let’s find him.” We can gain quite a bit of approval with Jaheira
just by speaking with her. To do this, we will start with “Now we’re traveling together,
I realise I don’t know much about you.” After asking “Is it true that you’ve
fought the Dead Three before?” we can say “Please. You’re only one of those things.” After saying “You mentioned you
know something of illithids.” We can either joke around, or
say “My mind is still my own…” Finally, we can say “Tell me what
you know about Orin.” followed by “She wants us paranoid -
likely to make a mistake.” After doing all of that, our approval rating with
Jaheira should be around 50, in the High range. Before we take a long rest, there are some
important, non-combat tasks we need to complete. We can start by returning upstairs to
explain the situation to Danthelon. Next, we will need to gain access to Wyrm’s
Rock, a short distance to the north. If we speak with Blaze Elin, we can try our luck at
persuading her to lower the bridge. However, this is an extremely difficult skill check,
and even if we stack the deck in our favor, we are very unlikely to succeed. Doing so will
gain us approval with our companions though. In any case, there is a way to access
Wyrm’s Rock that does not require any ridiculously high skill checks.
Climbing down the ladder to the east, we can use our featherfall boots and jump
down to the mountainside of Wyrm’s Rock. We can head around the northeast side,
and we may want to quicksave as this does depend on a passive perception check.
Albeit one that is fairly easy. Along the fortress wall is a crack in the wall,
and a successful passive perception check will reveal it to us. We can then
enter through it, into the prison. There is a sturdy wall of rubble we will have to
break through. Lae’zel should be able to break through it with any blunt weapon and the All-in
passive toggled on. If that is not working, try using magic missile on the wall first and
then switch back to Lae’zel. We can also go back outside, return to camp, and grab a smokepowder
barrel, as that should definitely do the trick. We will next need to pick a lock,
which Karlach should be very good at. We will want to go through
this door on our Main Character, as it is very likely we will be confronted by
a guard. A deception check will avert a fight. Even so, before doing anything else, we will
need to get rid of this nosey guard. This is where Greater Invisibility comes in handy.
We can turn Karlach or Lae’zel invisible, toggle on non-lethal if we want
to be nice, approach the guard, enter turn-based mode, then beat the guard
into unconsciousness while staying invisible.. If we try to do this while not invisible,
or with just basic invisibility, we will be revealed and will then have to take on all 4 of
the guards. It’s still a pretty doable encounter, but I’d personally prefer to
avoid the hassle altogether. Once that guard is dealt with, we can grab his key
and head to the cell where Florrick is being held, near the north end of the prison. We will
need to persuade Florrick not to give up hope. Managing that, we can then open
the door and Florrick will become a temporary companion. We need to make sure
everyone is hiding, including Florrick, then retrace our steps back to the crack in the
wall, where we initially entered the prison. Upon leaving the prison, we
can wish Florrick farewell, and she will now be our Ally against the Absolute. At this point, we can go back into
the prison, this time making our way to the main level of Wyrm’s Rock, which
is through the set of doors to the south. We will be confronted by a Steel Watcher, which we can respond to in any way,
short of outright physical violence. Once we are free to move about, there is a
unique set of armor we can get here. To do this, we will want to turn Karlach invisible,
preferably with greater invisibility, then have her hide and enter turn-based mode. We can use Step of the Wind: Dash on
Karlach, then make our way southwest to the iron gate. Once we’ve picked the lock,
we can head inside and grab several items, including the Flame Enameled
Armor from the Heavy Chest. If we keep stealing items, we will eventually
cause our greater invisibility to fail. So, we will try to not push our luck,
grab the best things to grab, then exit turn-based mode and fast
travel to the nearby waypoint. Next, we can head east, out of this
room, and over to the Audience Hall. Mizora should be waiting outside, and
we can speak with her before entering. Upon entering the Audience Hall, Karlach will
begin burning up with anger. I remembered a Persuasion check being necessary to
keep the situation from spiraling out of control. However, it seems that
if we are in a romance with Karlach, we can avert disaster without
the need of a skill check. It is up to us how we want to deal
with Gortash here. Although we will eventually be turning on Gortash, we can
lie and agree to an alliance with him, or we can refuse to help him. That being
said, if we make too many overt threats or try to cause a commotion during the
ceremony, an extremely difficult combat encounter will ensue. Not only that, but
even if we manage to survive the encounter, we will autocomplete and skip several
important quests, leading to some bad outcomes. Personally, I decided to lie and agreed to
an alliance. If we do that, we can reassure Karlach that the alliance is nothing more than a
ruse to gain Gortash’s trust. This will gain back any approval we lost by forming the alliance. We
can also have a similar conversation with Jaheira. After the ceremony, we can go speak with
Duke Ravengard. We can gain some approval from Jaheira during this interaction. If
we ask “Don’t you understand?...” We can follow it with an Illithid skill check
to gain further insight into Ravengard’s condition. Speaking with Gortash while Karlach is
nearby will also trigger a special interaction. Next, we are going to get one,
potentially two achievements here, but we will want to make a save to
revert back to afterwards. To get it, we will first have Karlach go through the
small door to the northwest of Gortash, and we can turn her invisible if necessary.
She can then lockpick the set of doors a little further west. We also need to make sure
Karlach has an Elixir of Giant Strength active, preferably Cloud Giant. All of our party members
besides our Cleric should also be in this room. The next step is to have our Cleric use
Spirit Guardians. This should serve as a sort of repellent for neutral NPCs, such as
Gortash. We can use that effect to push him towards where Karlach is located. Once
Gortash is in that room, we can haste Karlach with our Sorcerer, then save and hit
Gortash with a magic missile or other attack. This next part will work best if Karlach is
first in the turn-order, and she should be. Our goal is to send Gortash over that nearby
cliff, to the west. With the first 2 throws, we should be able to get Gortash close to the
edge. There is a weird bug where something is blocking enemies from being knocked over the edge.
However, if we throw Gortash as close to the edge as possible, we should be able to push him off the
edge with a Flurry of Blows: Push. When combined with the damage of that attack, the fall damage
should be just enough to finish Gortash off. Because we didn’t set off any traps to do this,
we should get the “Fancy Footwork” achievement. In addition, if this is the first time we defeated an
enemy with fall damage, we should get the “Shove Off” achievement. Killing Gortash this early
will progress and skip a bunch of quests and result in bad outcomes, and because of that, we
will want to revert to a save before doing this. Before leaving, we can get a nice set
of boots from upstairs. To do that, we will head over to the northwest passageway.
We will then have Karlach split off from the group and use Haste on herself with the
Darkfire Shortbow, then turn invisible, and this can be with a potion or spell (although
greater invisibility is definitely preferred). We can then hide and enter turn-based
mode, and proceed through the passageway. With both Step of the Wind: Dash and regular
Dash, we can hop our way over to Gortash’s personal chambers within 1 or 2 turns. There is a
locked chest in the northwest corner that we can steal. Doing this will break normal invisibility,
but so long as we are hiding and out of view, we should be able to use another before
getting spotted. We could probably get away with just exiting turn-based mode and
fast-traveling to the nearest waypoint too. Finally, after regrouping, if we find
Mizora and speak with her once more, she will provide some ominous
foreshadowing of events to come. At this point, we can go ahead and take a
long rest. This will trigger an important story moment for Wyll, and it’s also where we
will get his companion achievement. Pause now if you want to avoid spoilers, and come back
once the important decision is available. Once we are given the choice, we will need to say
“Break the pact, Wyll. You deserve your freedom.” Doing so will get us the “Loophole” achievement,
and set Wyll free. Mizora will also join the camp. Afterwards, we can speak with Karlach
about her worsening condition. We can also speak to Wyll and assure him that
we will save his father. We should also speak with Mizora and see what she has
to say. Even if we tell her to leave, she won’t. We will want to make sure we exhaust
all of her dialogue options before moving on. Our other companions will also have something to
say about Wyll’s decision if we speak to them. Finally, there is a note from Arabella that
can be found on the bench near the campfire. With all of that done, we can go ahead and take
our long rest. This will trigger an encounter with The Emperor, and this is also where we
can start pursuing a romance with them. We will need to do this in order to eventually
get the “Mind Blown” achievement. For that, we will want to play nice and eventually “Give
the Emperor’s hand a reassuring squeeze.” The next morning, Yenna will show up
and join our camp, so long as we agree. We are going to complete several Long Rests here, and feel free to revisit shops between each one
to buy more Elixirs of Cloud Giant Strength, Battlemage Elixirs, Potions of Speed,
Potions of Flying, and Thieves’ Tools. Our next Long Rest will focus around Lae’zel.
At this point, we want Lae’zel to take a stand against Vlaakith. If we either encourage
her or keep silent, she should do just that. We can then speak with Lae’zel, and if we pass
an insight check we can say “You’re grieving the future you’ll never have…” to gain some
approval. Depending on who we are romancing, we may be able to speak with them to
initiate their Act 3 Romance scene. This is not the case for Karlach though. Once
we’ve handled all that, we can go to bed. Our decisions over the next Long Rest have
significant implications for certain characters. Because of this, I recommend watching ahead for
the next long rest or two before proceeding. At our next Long Rest, we can speak with
Mizora and she will propose a one-night stand. Halsin will also propose something similar.
Hypothetically, if we did say yes to both, Halsin’s romance would occur during this
long rest, and Mizora’s during the next. Neither are required for an achievement,
and because of other negative consequences (which I would be happy to discuss in the
comments section) we will be turning both of them down for this playthrough. If you just
want to see how those scenarios play out, feel free to create a save to
revert back to, then go for it. In any case, after turning both of them
down, we can go to bed. At this point, we still have a handful more of Long Rests. For at least one event to occur, which
is also required for an achievement, we will need to go to the lower city, and
the entrance to it is north of Wyrm’s Rock. If we want to get really nice camp clothes
for our characters before these Long Rests, we can do so by heading far west
to the Baldur’s Gate Waypoint. We should also do this to trigger an
encounter with Counsellor Florrick, where we will need to pass a Persuasion Check
in order to stay on good terms with everyone. Once we’ve made it to the Baldur’s Gate
Waypoint, The Facemaker’s Boutique can be found directly to the east. There, we
can speak with Figaro, and sass aside, he sells the best dyes and camp clothing in the
game. Nice camp clothes are completely optional. In any case, once we are in the Lower City, we can
go ahead and take our first Long Rest. We can find and speak with Karlach, and she’ll ask us out on a
date. If you are romancing a different character, they may have a similar proposition. But, going
back to Karlach, to get an achievement, we need to say yes. As long as we do that, I am pretty
sure we can play the rest of it however we want. Afterwards, we can speak with Karlach
for more romance-related dialogue. Once we’ve finished the Long Rest, we
should get the “Hot Date” achievement. We will want to make sure Halsin is NOT in
our party, then take our next long rest. This will immediately trigger an encounter
with Halsin. In order to talk Halsin down, we will need to pass a high DC skill check.
Trust me when I say that we should not waste inspiration points here. I recommend pausing
until after the skill check to avoid spoilers. After the big reveal, we will
want to eventually say “So be it…” and don’t worry, Scratch will be fine. We can also speak with both Wyll
and Mizora about her interference, in Regards to Florrick. If we read the Legend
of Ansur book that we got from Florrick, we can then speak with Wyll about
it. All that’s left is to go to bed. The next long rest will feature Astarion, and this event will trigger once we go
to bed. We should Persuade Astarion to be truthful here, despite it earning his
disapproval. Regardless of our success, we will have to fight Astarion’s siblings off. A
Sunbeam and a couple high level Lightning Bolts should severely damage or defeat the majority of
them. We can then clean up the rest with Lae’zel. Afterwards, Astarion will speak with us. Saying
“I can’t believe how you lied to them…” followed by “You don’t have sympathy for others…”
and finally “The world can be a wonderful, kind place, Astarion…” will earn approval from
him, and even start to change his outlook on life. Depending on who you are romancing, there
may be more unique Long Rests to do. So it’s always a good idea to keep taking Long
Rests until nothing new or eventful happens. All that is left is to prepare for
the adventuring day and head out. Our next objective is within Sharess'
Caress in Wyrm’s Crossing. Once inside, we’ll make our way up to the third floor,
where we can break into the Nymph’s Grotto. A short encounter will follow, and we
should save the game immediately after. We can then speak with the Wood Elf, and if we
succeed on a passive insight check, we will have the option to get the Rapture buff or condition.
We will need to say “That creature aroused you, didn’t it?”, followed by “What did you have in
mind?”. We can then close our eyes and listen, and play along to get the buff. This is a really
good buff to get and so I definitely think it is worth save-scumming for. It works in the
same way as the Bliss Spores from Act 1, adding 1d6 to all of our d20
rolls until our next long rest. With that buff, we will return to the Lower City. Our goals in this part of the city are
to complete Jaheira’s Quest and also collect a bunch of powerful magic items. To
start, we can have Karlach split off from the group and head northwest into the Stormshore
Tabernacle. When the proprietor is looking away, we can hide, enter turn-based mode, and pick
the lock on the hatch in the southwest corner. There are several traps we will want to avoid as
we make our way to the easternmost room. Within the room are multiple chests, each containing
valuable items. But if we steal from any of the chests, we will get a very bad curse put on us,
although there is a workaround. The chest in the back contains the best item of all, an Amulet
of the Devout. If we want to avoid the curse, we can just send the items back to camp,
then go retrieve it from our camp stash. If, for whatever reason, we still get the curse, we can have a cleric remove it with the remove
curse spell, though this will also summon a Deva. In any case, the Amulet of
the Devout is probably the single best necklace for a Cleric
and is worth the trouble to get. Next, we can stop over at
the Elfsong Tavern. There, we can speak with the bartender and rent
the upstairs room. This will become our camp location in the lower city, and it’s a
cozy spot, with a unique soundtrack to boot. Moving on, we will travel northwest
to the Forge of the Nine, where Dammon can be found. Unfortunately, he is not
able to help Karlach with her condition, at least not at the time of making this video. He does have some stellar new
items for sale. Unfortunately they are all prohibitively expensive.
With that said, he will usually drop 2 of his best items when knocked out. Those
being the Armour of Persistence and Boots of Persistence. Because of that, we can buy the
last great item, the Legacy of the Masters gloves, then have a single character stay
behind to knock him unconscious, such as Lae’zel. I have a hard time deciding if
the boots of speed or persistence are better, but both the gloves and chest armor we get from
Dammon are a definite upgrade for our fighter. Next, we’ll go a bit further west, to the
Devil’s Fee. We can have Karlach split off from the group and jump up to the 2nd
floor balcony. She should have no trouble with the height if she is boosted by
an elixir of Cloud Giant Strength. Once inside, we will want to read Helsik’s
Diary. We will then need to break into the various chests scattered around this area,
collecting multiple important items. In the southeastern chest is a diamond. The Opulent
Chest contains an infernal marble. The Wooden Cask contains a skull. In the room to the
north, we can get the Mask of Soul Perception, which is great for Monks, along with a Coin of
Mammon. Finally, we will need to grab the incense, sitting above the fireplace. With all of those
ingredients, we can return to the ritual circle. Looking at it like a clock, and using the
pointing arrow as the 12 o’clock position, we will need to place our different
ingredients in the following positions. The skull at 12 o’clock, the Coin of
Mammon at 2 o’clock, the diamond at 5 o’clock, and incense at 7 o’clock.
Finally, to complete the ritual, we will need to place the infernal
marble at the center of the circle. Before entering the portal, we can
speak with Helsik on the ground floor, gaining access to her secret stash of items. The
main item we want here is the Cloak of the Weave With that in hand, we can save the game, then
go through the Portal to the House of Hope. The first thing we will want to do here, after
speaking with Karlach, is make sure that we are actually able to come and go from the House of
Hope as we please, which we should be able to. If that ever changes in a future patch, then we
should probably wait to tackle this obstacle. Once we have the all clear, we can head to the
door, at which point we will meet Hope. We can get some help from Hope, as well as agree
to help her. Our next destination is the west most room of the house. We will take
the long way around, going east at first. Along the way, we can visit the room
labeled “Outer Portals” and speak with Nubaldin. Through the conversation, we can
gain some insight into Gortash’s upbringing, which Karlach will have something to say about. As we continue west, feel free to speak to
the various debtors throughout the house, it can make for some funny moments. Arriving at the Archives, we’ll speak with Hope
once more, for more guidance. A few successful checks will get us some information
that we can use against the Archivist. With that info, we can perform a deception check
on the Archivist, convincing him that we belong. We will then want to ask to see the Hammer.
Which will gain us a Boudoir Invitation. We can also speak with Korilla, though we should
keep our cards close to the vest, so to speak. Also in this room are two powerful magic items, the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength and
the Amulet of Greater Health. In order to avoid any problems, we will need to stay
hidden, preferably with greater invisibility, and we will also need to disarm the trap
beneath each item before stealing them. The Amulet is pretty great on a monk, as it
makes Stunning Strike much more effective. Once we are done in the archive, we will head
northeast, towards the Boudoir. Along the way, we can lockpick a Gilded Chest to
get two Potions of Angelic Slumber. We will want to save before approaching the
brick wall that is opposite of the Boudoir, as a Passive Perception check is needed
to interact with the Inert Infernal Gem. We can then activate the infernal
gem with a wisdom skill check, and unlock it with a DC20 Arcana check. Within this chamber, we will want
to grab the Staff of Spellpower, Helldusk Helmet, and the Contract for Mol. Next, we will head into the Boudoir. We can speak
with Hope if we want, but the main reason we are here is for the Restoration Faucets. Until
we retrieve the Orphic Hammer, the faucets can be used an unlimited number of times and
using them basically counts as a long rest. There is also a locked chest
near the Boudoir’s entrance, containing another Potion of Angelic Slumber. One last thing we can do before
leaving the house of hope is to confront Haarlep. They are located in
the northern section of the Boudoir. We should also haste Karlach and Lae’zel
before initiating this encounter. If you want to go beneath the
sheets with the Incubus, you can, I however will just be attacking them. We
should do our best to stun Haarlep with our first strike. Otherwise, they will
turn insubstantial and be unattackable. Also, if Haarlep does end up
summoning additional enemies, do not hit them with Radiant Damage, as
that damage will be dealt back 2-fold. Haarlep drops the Helldusk Gloves when defeated, which are good on Sorcerers,
as well as a safe key. We can have Karlach click the button
under the portrait to the northwest, eating a fireball for her trouble. Within the
safe that is revealed, we will get 5 Soul Coins, along with Raphael’s Notes, which contain
the secret to acquiring the Orphic Hammer. After reading Raphael’s Notes, we can
go grab the Orphic Hammer at any time. However, we definitely want to wait to do that
until a good while later. The reason is that once we do, the restoration faucets will stop
working. So, until we steal the Orphic Hammer, we basically won’t need to take a long rest, which
will cause us to lose all of our buffs. Also, stealing the Orphic Hammer results
in one of the most difficult combat encounters in the entire game, and
we aren’t ready for that quite yet. This can definitely be exploited to our benefit, and we will do just that, but first,
we should have just hit level 10. Hold Monster is a good Spell to get on Sorcerer, and we also gain a 4th metamagic option. I
suppose Heightened Spell is the next best option. We will gain 2 more Maneuvres on Lae’zel, and
at this point just take whatever looks good. Clerics don’t gain much, especially
if we have one level in Wizard. Finally, we can take a second
level into Rogue on Karlach. Before leaving the House of Hope, we can stack
a bunch of Cleric buffs, mainly Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, and a 5th level Aid, then use
the Faucets to get back all expended Spell Slots. Given all the buffs we currently have, it would
be a shame to take a long rest and lose them all, especially the Rapture, which is irreplaceable. Fortunately, so long as we don’t steal the Orphic
Hammer, we don’t have to. Instead, we can just make a short trip back to the Restoration Faucets
and use those. We just need to make sure we hang on to the Debtor’s Attire we’ve been given, which
allows us to travel freely within the House of Hope. It’s also a good idea to come back here and
use the faucets if all we need is a short rest. If, for whatever reason, a long rest is necessary, I will have a segment covering all remaining
unique Long Rests more near the end of the video. With that, we will make our way
back to the entrance portal, and leave the house hope. At this point, we’ve
done basically everything to do in there, aside from stealing the Orphic Hammer,
which again, we will be doing a bit later. Once back on the Material Plane, we can
briefly speak with Karlach about her condition. Also, if we want, we can get a hidden interaction
with Karlach. We will want to save the game, then use all 5 of the Soul Coins we just got on
Karlach. This will trigger a unique conversation with her. Besides that, though, it doesn’t really
provide any lasting benefits, and it also wastes 4 Soul Coins. So we will want to revert back to
our previous save, prior to using the extra coins. Trying to go down the stairs will trigger
a trap that does a good deal of damage, so we are better off using the feather
fall boots and jumping off the balcony. Next, we’ll head south and discover the
Lower City Central Wall fast travel point. Now that we are level 10, we can get
another Legendary Weapon. We will need to make room in our party, then recruit
Zenith Feur’sel, the Cleric Hireling, through Withers. At level 10, he will gain
the Divine Intervention ability, which can only be used once in the game. Picking Arm Thy
Servant here will give us the Devotee’s Mace, which we can then move to our own inventory. After
that, we can have Withers dismiss this hireling. Fun fact, whenever the party reaches a new level, all of the shops refill their inventory. So,
if we want, we can make a trip back to Wyrm’s Crossing to potentially get more Elixirs of
Cloud Giant Strength from the shops there. We will then want to return to the Lower
City Central Wall Fast Travel Point. To the east is the Bonecloak Apothecary, where we will see a familiar face. If
we gave Derryth the Noblestalk in Act 1, she will have an expanded inventory,
including 3 more Noblestalk consumables. Across the square, to the southeast,
is Sorcerous Sundries. We will bring Gale here later, but for now, we can
go in to get some important items. To start, we can speak with Rolan, and
pleasantries aside, browse his shop. The Vest of Soul Rejuvenation is probably
the best Chest Armor for a Monk, and the Birthright Hat is great for Sorcerers, or
even just for boosting Charisma Checks. Once we’ve gotten and equipped
those items, we can head up the staircase. We will be given a test on our
knowledge of the Nightsong. In the end, we will want to save the game, then
take the blue portal on the left. This will lead directly to a dialogue
with Lorroakan. We will eventually need to pass a difficult Intimidation check to
roam this area freely. But as a sorcerer, and with all the various buffs we have,
that should not pose much of a problem. Once we are free to move about, we can
leave one character, such as Lae’zel, in this top area, which will make
for an easy exit. We can then jump down the floating furniture near
the northeast corner of the room. Thanks to Volo’s Ersatz Eye, we can
see invisibility, which will reveal the various invisible plaques around
the room. To our immediate northwest is a Weave Button with a sign reading
“Below”. We will want to use the button, then save before proceeding. In order
to access the two items in this area, we need to pass a difficult Arcana Check
on each of the levers. We can increase our odds with Guidance, Enhance Ability, the
Headband of Intellect, and Mage’s Friend Ring. The staff is the Legendary Markoheshkir, and it’s
the best staff in the game. We can equip it and use Kereska’s Favour. As a Storm Sorcerer, there
is really one correct choice, “Bolts of Doom”. This condition will allow us to cast both the
Level 6 Chain Lightning Spell and the Level 3 Lightning Bolt Spell for free, once per short
rest. That being said, if we unequip the staff for any reason, we will lose the buff, and must take
a short or long rest before we can use it again. In the other sphere are the Robes of the
Weave, which are also great for our Sorcerer. With those items in hand, we make our way back up to the portal to exit this area.
If we left a companion up there, such as Lae’zel, we can just switch to
them, group back up, and take the portal. Outside, we can find two more vendors to
the southwest. The first, Gloomy Fentonson, has the Armor of Agility, which is pretty
great for Clerics. It’s also very expensive, and we don’t absolutely need it,
but it would be nice to have. The other vendor, Fytz the Firecracker, well, she
doesn’t really have anything that I would consider using. However, she and Karlach are friends, and
we can let the two catch up before moving on. If we haven’t already done so, we can speak
with Jaheira and ask her how we might find Minsc. At Jaheira’s suggestion, we can seek
out the Thieves Guild. To find the entrance, we will head southeast from the Stormshore
Armory, those vendors we were just speaking to. Heading down towards the shore, we will
discover the Heapside Strand Fast Travel Point. From there, we can move a
short distance northeast, where we’ll run into a verbal encounter.
With Jaheira in the group, we can gain entrance with a simple dialogue
choice, bypassing any skill checks. Once inside the Guildhall, we’ll move northwest
towards Nine-Fingers’ office. Along the way, we can stop and speak with Mol, giving her
the contract she signed with Raphael. We can ask her about it, but ultimately should
support the choices she made. We should then have a fairly easy Persuasion check, and
succeeding it will gain us Mol as an Ally against the Absolute. We can also trade with
Mol, but she doesn’t sell anything unique. Sticky Dondo will also sell goods to us,
and he does have at least one unique item. Moving on, we’ll enter Nine-Fingers’
office and initiate a dialogue. We can gain some approval with
Jaheira by saying “Hi there. I’m a friend of Jaheira’s.” and also
“She’s not alone - she has me.” Afterwards, we can speak with
Jaheira and plan our next steps. The only guild member that will provide us with
useful information is Uktar, the Guild Bursar. Saying “The quicker I deal with the Stone Lord,
the quicker Nine-Fingers gets back to business.” will earn more approval with Jaheira. It
will also get us the information we need. We can then speak with Jaheira once more, and eventually say “Don’t worry. We’ll
save him…” in order to get more approval. Before leaving the Guildhall, we can go
back to Nine-Fingers office. Near her bed, there is a secret entrance. We can have Karlach
sneak and pick the lock on the bookcase to open the way. Through it, we will find a very
difficult vault to crack, with a DC of 30. There are some valuables and fancy clothes
within the vault, but no unique magic items. However, we can move down the ladder to the north
and pull the nearby lever to fully open this back door entrance. We will want to watch out as
there are some firebomb traps on the other side. Beyond the locked door to the west, we will
discover a fast travel point for the sewers, and this will come in handy later on. We
can also move a little bit further west, into a natural cavern. Here, we
will find Arabella in deep thought, and there is not much to do here,
besides ask what she is up to. Next, we can fast travel back
to the Lower City Central Wall and move southwest, towards the counting house. Along the way, we can stop at the Beehive Goods
and Wares store. The vendor here will often have useful potions and elixirs for sale. Also, if we
want to see the conclusion of Oblodra’s story, we can do so by heading to the building a
short distance northwest, but I digress. From the Beehive Goods and Wares store, the
counting house is just a short distance south. Once inside, we can speak with Head Clerk
Meadhoney. Thanks to our previous actions, we should have no problem passing the
Persuasion check, gaining the bank pass. We can then present the pass when asked by the
guards, before moving down to the lower level. Before going to the vaults, we can stop in the
small room down the east staircase. There are tons of valuables worth nabbing here, amounting
to around 3000 gold overall. To be safe, we will probably want to stay hidden
while engaging in these activities. Making our way further down, we
will have to present our Bank Pass to one more set of guards in
order to gain entry to the vaults. Inside the vaults area, we can spend
as much time as we want breaking into all the lower-security vaults and stealing
all the valuables. In the northern chamber, we can have Karlach shoot the buttons
above the braziers on the east and west sides of the rooms in order to
disengage the traps on the ground. While all the vaults are guarded by DC 25
locks, Karlach’s expertise in sleight of hand, combined with the gloves of thievery and
Guidance, should make pretty short work of them. The safes in the southern chamber
are a bit trickier to access, as they are stored behind impassible metal grates. The most convenient way I know to get at
these safes is by using misty step or other teleportation items. These include the Amulet
of Misty Step, Disintegrating Night Walkers, and Helldusk Boots. The 3 vaults on the west side
are worth getting, as are the 3 on the east side. Of the two individual safes, the more eastern one
had literally nothing in it in my game (although I am not 100% sure if this is always the case)
and the more western one had around 500 gold. We will then need to get out of this
area, and we can either misty step out, which would require a scroll at this
point. Or, if we are really desperate, we can fast travel back to the Lower City Central
Wall and just run back to the counting house. Overall, if we loot everything here, we should have a bunch of valuable and
useful items, along with over 5000 gold. After re-equipping all of Karlach’s combat
gear, we can then make our way east, over to the high security vaults. There is a
puzzle here that we can solve, but to bypass it, we can have our cleric cast create water
near the vault door, then electrify it with shocking grasp. This should bypass the security
measures and instantly open the vault door. Before entering the passageway, we can prepare
for the next encounter by casting twinned haste on Karlach and Lae’zel, and by having Jaheira
use Spirit Guardians. Without spoiling too much, I will just say that we can let Jaheira reveal
herself here for a more interesting cutscene. What follows is not necessarily a difficult combat
encounter, but it is a somewhat tedious one. We can have Karlach and Lae’zel jump down to the
enemies near the back of the vault, which can be attacked directly. We will want to either
stun or outright eliminate these threats ASAP, as they have the potential to stun us if we don’t.
Also, a really cool thing we can do with Karlach, thanks to her fancy new chest armor, is
deliberately provoke opportunity attacks. If the enemy misses that attack, we can react with
a Greater Kushigo Counter. In addition, unless it gets patched out of the game, this will allow us
to attack an additional time, thanks to our extra attack. However, this only seems to work if we are
either out of actions, or have not yet attacked. Between Spirit Guardians, Radiance of the
Dawn, and a Lightning Bolt from our Sorcerer, we should be able to dispatch
the two reapers that start combat near the entrance to this area. They
can’t be targeted by direct attacks, as they are protected by Sanctuary. However,
that does not protect them from area attacks. There is one invisible enemy hiding
in each of the elevated areas, on the south and north side of this chamber.
Jaheira can do a good job revealing them by running over them with Spirit Guardians active.
If we fail to reveal them during the combat, they will probably get revealed at some point
after the encounter, while we explore this area. After the fight, we can speak
with Rakath to progress Jaheira’s Quest. Rakath will ask us to help
recover the stolen gold, and we can, but let’s hold off on that until a later
point. From everything I’ve seen, it makes no difference if we break into all the High
Security Vaults now and steal everything. At least in the game’s current state, the
Bank staff won’t do anything to stop us, and we can still give any vault keys we find to
Uktar for a small monetary reward, but I digress. Going to the easternmost chamber will reveal
that Minsc can likely be found within the city’s sewers. Upon this discovery, we can speak with
Jaheira once more, saying “Of course you’re tired - you’re ancient.” in order to get a heartfelt
laugh from her, along with some approval. Fast traveling back to the Lower City Central
Wall, we can move a very far distance west, eventually veering northwest, which will bring
us to the Baldur’s Gate Fast Travel Point, assuming we haven’t already activated it. From there, we can wrap around the house
to the southeast, which will bring us to a manhole entrance to the sewers. We are
going to take a very particular path. We will start by moving a short distance
north, before turning to the west. We will be confronted by a Sorcerer named Aelis
before getting very far. To avoid a fight, we’ll need to pass a DC 20 intimidation check. That
being said, all of our buffs should give us pretty good odds of success. If you end up taking this
fight on, fire damage should probably be avoided. Afterwards, we can continue moving
west until we reach a large pipe, we will want to enter hiding and move north
through the hole in the wall. Further west, there are 3 bhaalists that we can gain surprise
on, making the encounter much easier. We will want to prioritize eliminating the one named Kevo,
as she will conjure a murder of blinding crows, which makes this combat encounter
much more difficult and tedious. In the next chamber is a puzzle. This puzzle
can be bypassed if one of our characters manages to succeed on a strength check when
interacting with the Sluice Valve. However, even if we fail that, the
puzzle is not too difficult. We just need to make sure the Water Level
and Temperature reach their ideal points at the same time to open the way forward. To
do this, we will want to start by interacting with the Water Level Valve. We will then
wait until the water level rises 1 notch, which takes 2 turns, or 12 seconds. We
will then want to quickly interact with the Temperature Valve. In another 2 turns,
both the Water Level and Temperature should hit their ideal points at the same
time, opening the Sluice Gate below. Within the pipe, we will want to save the game, then use twinned haste on both
Karlach and Lae’zel to prepare. Once we are ready, we can save the game, then
move west down the pipe to initiate an encounter. In this combat encounter, it is critical
that we do not kill Minsc, we just want to knock him unconscious. Therefore, we
will want to toggle on non-lethal attacks before moving in with Lae’zel and Karlach to
knock him out as our first priority. Also, we need to be extra careful with area
attacks on both Jaheira and our MC, as these could easily hit Minsc and
kill him, even after he is knocked out. Our second priority is to take down
Roah Moonglow before she can escape. Once Minsc is unconscious, we can proceed to
systematically wipe out the remaining enemies, going non-lethal on them is completely optional. Once the fight is over, and so
long as Minsc is still alive, we’ll then need to convince The Emperor
to extend his protection to Minsc. The Emperor will initially refuse, but
if we say “He’s Jaheira’s friend. Do it.” followed by “It doesn’t matter - help
him.” then the Emperor should acquiesce. After a brief exchange, Minsc will run off
to the north. Before we chase after him, we can loot up and we will especially want to
loot Roah Moonglow, as she has the 10,000 gold that was stolen from the Counting House. There
are also some containers scattered about that contain valuable items, but nothing unique and
we can speak briefly with Karlach about Minsc. Next, we will chase after Minsc, and we will
trigger a unique interaction when we speak to him. Through the dialogue that follows, we
will eventually need to accept Minsc’s offer to join us as a permanent companion,
and tell him to meet us back at camp. At this point, we can return to camp,
not to take a long rest, per se, but to get Minsc in the party. Minsc is like
Jaheira, in that he has a lot of cool story interactions in Act 3. We can also take
this opportunity to get an achievement, but more on that in a moment. I will be having
Minsc take over the role of Fighter for Lae’zel. He won’t be as effective as Lae’zel with the
Silver Sword, but that won’t be an issue for long. So, with all that said, we can take
all the important items off of Lae’zel, and get them ready for Minsc, this includes the
Debtor’s Attire, which Minsc will need to travel freely within the House of Hope. We can then
dismiss Lae’zel from the party, and get Minsc. Minsc is special in that he is automatically at
the max level 12. While we are going to switch him over to a full Fighter, we can first have
him multiclass into all 12 different classes, taking 1 level of each available class. Doing this
will get us the “Jack-of-all-Trades'' achievement. We can then take Minsc over to Withers and change
class to become a fighter. We will take Great Weapon Fighting as his Fighting Style. Because
we will always be boosting him with Elixirs of Cloud Giant Strength, we also don’t need to
invest any points into Strength. Instead, we can use those to get a Dexterity and Constitution
score of 16, intelligence of 12, and Wisdom of 14. For leveling up, we will take the Battle
Master subclass at level 3, with the same set of Maneuvres that we had on Lae’zel. The
feats we want to take over the levels are Alert, Great Weapon Master, Sentinel, and at level
12 we can take Lucky. Also, as a fighter, Minsc will get improved Multiattack at level 11, and can attack 3 times per action. Finally,
we will equip him with the gear we took off of Lae’zel and use an Elixir of Cloud Giant
Strength on him to complete the transition. We will be going to find Ansur soon, but first, if
we want, we can return to the High Security Vaults in the Counting House. Outside of the counting
house, we can give 50 gold coins to the beggar for some approval with Minsc and Jaheira.
Within the high security vaults section, we can speak with Rakath, and having Minsc
with us will trigger a unique interaction. While we could just return the entire 10000
gold, we are better off saying “You lost innocent people’s money…” first, and follow it
with a special Intimidation check that is only available because of Minsc. This skill check
has a lowered DC of just 15. Success here will gain us approval from both Minsc and Jaheira, and
will also cut down the reparations to 5000 gold. As a reward, we will get
about half of that gold back, along with the key to the
No. 9 High Security Vault. Next, we ought to conclude our dealings at
the Thieves Guild. We can fast travel to the City Sewers and return to the Guildhall through
the backdoor entrance to Nine-Fingers’ Office. Within the guildhall, we’ll see
Nine-Fingers trying to maintain peace on the north side of the pit. If needed, we can exchange some lower level spell slots
for Sorcery Points, then approach Nine-Fingers. Once again, Minsc’s presence will make
for unique interaction. Despite the trouble that Minsc has caused, we should
be able to reach a peaceful resolution, and aid Nine-Fingers against the Zhent. At the start of the battle, we can cast
Twinned Haste on Minsc and Karlach, and start eliminating and/or stunning the
Zhent. Our main goal in this fight is to keep Nine-Fingers alive. Besides that, this combat
encounter should pretty much be a landslide. After the fight, we can loot the Zhent for
sellable loot, but they don’t have anything unique. We will then want to make our way up
to Nine-Finger’s office. The unique interaction between Minsc, Jaheira, and Nine-Fingers
here is one of my all-time favorites. Once again, we will want to steer the
conversation towards a peaceful resolution, and this will require success on a persuasion
check. Doing so will earn us Nine-Fingers as an ally in the fight against the Absolute,
and will gain us some approval from Jaheira. At this time, we can speak with Minsc to earn
some approval. We will first want to say “Everyone has the potential for good…” when given the
option. This will get us 10 points of approval. We can then say “I’d like to know a
little more about you.” and follow it by asking about Minsc’s special title. Finally, we can pass a persuasion check to get
that approval, another 10 points of it. There may be other dialogue options to
earn approval with Minsc, but if there are, I haven’t figured that out. That
being said, there are plenty of funny moments. At this point, Minsc’s
approval of us should be very high. Before leaving the lower city, we can revisit
Derryth near the Lower City Central Wall. Because we got Minsc in the party at
level 12, she and other vendors should have restocked their inventories, allowing us to
potentially get more useful elixirs and potions. There is also one more buff we will want to get,
now that we have Minsc in the party. Starting from the Baldur’s Gate fast travel point, we
can move southwest towards the docks. There, we will need to save Volo from
some trouble he’s found himself in. Acting quickly is necessary in order
to prevent Volo from being blown up. We can start by casting twinned
haste on Karlach and Minsc. Then, we can use either a potion of speed or quickened
spell to cast Ray of Frost on the fires that are threatening to blow up Volo. We can also have a
character go over to Volo and either free him, or pick up all the Smokepowder barrels,
neutralizing the threat entirely. All that’s left is to take care
of the enemies. My preferred way of doing this is by chucking the
various enemies into the nearby water. We will lose some sellable
loot, but no unique magic items. After the fight, we will need to free Volo if
we haven’t already done so, then speak to him. Volo will thank us and head back to our camp. Just down to the east we can discover the Grey
Harbour Docks. We can also speak to Captain Sleam nearby and secure safe passage for a family to
earn extra approval points with Minsc and Jaheira. Finally, just a bit further south, we will find
the Water Queen’s House. We will be returning here later, but for now, we are just trying to
get a blessing. Each character can do this by placing a valuable item from their inventory, a
single gold coin also works, into the Offerings Chest. This basically gives our characters the
Bless spell or buff until our next long rest, which is very nice. That being said, this
long-lasting form of Bless will be removed if our characters are hit with the more temporary
version of Bless, so we want to avoid doing that. Around this time we will hit level 11 on all
characters. Spellcasters gain access to 6th level spells at this time, which are extremely powerful.
Clerics gain Heroes’ Feast, which we can use to significantly buff our entire party until our next
long rest. However, if we took a level in Wizard, then we will have to wait until reaching an
overall level of 12 before we get access to Heroes’ Feast. For Sorcerer, we will be taking
Chain Lightning as our first 6th level spell, because being able to cast Chain Lightning more
is always a good thing. Finally, on Karlach, we can take a third level in Rogue and pick the
Thief Subclass. This will give us a whole extra bonus action each turn, dramatically increasing
the amount of damage we can do each turn. Our next objective is going to be a tough one, so we want to give ourselves the best chance
of success. To do that, we will make our way back to the House of Hope to restore all
of our resources and health. While there, we can also make sure everyone has Death
Ward, Freedom of Movement, and a 6th level Aid spell to really boost max HP. If we have
Heroes’ Feast available, we can also use that. Now that we’re nice and beefy, we
can return to the material plane, and fast travel to Wyrm’s Rock. Also, feel free
to visit the shops in Rivington first if you want. At Wyrm’s Rock, we can speak with Arkleia and ask
to trade. She doesn’t have anything unique to buy, but succeeding on a Deception check here will
get us some approval from our companions. To reach the Heart of the Gate, we will head down
to the prison. If we go to the intersection, then down the west hall, we will find two Dragon Head
Torches near the end. We can use Shocking Grasp to electrify both torches, which will reveal a secret
passage. This passage will lead us to The Wyrmway. Once there, we can interact with the Statue of
Balduran, declaring “I am worthy. Open the way.” In order to open the large set of Double Iron
Doors, we will need to complete a series of 4 trials. Failure in any of these trials will result
in combat encounters that can cost us resources, so it’s best for us to avoid that. These trials
can be fun to work out on your own, if you want, but if you just want to see the quickest and most
efficient way to complete each, then watch on. To the west is the first trial. I’ll be honest,
I am not exactly sure how you are supposed to figure out the solution to this trial, but
I did figure out a solution that works. For it, we will need to have
Jaheira cast Remove Curse on the eastmost Shrouded Painting.
We can then pick up the painting, labeled “The Cell” and insert it on the
slab labeled “The Waiting Judgement”. To the northwest is the second trial. All we need to do to complete it is destroy the
red projection or phantom named Suelto. To the northeast is the third trial. This one can
actually vary quite a bit. It is a Lanceboard or Chess game in progress. For this puzzle, we will
be acting as the player in charge of the white pieces. Our goal is to move the pieces in such
a way that we checkmate or take the Black King Piece within just two moves. We have 3 attempts at
doing so before we are considered to have failed. We can work it out on our own, if we want to
do a bit of thinking. If you do go this route, I would recommend making a save. However, we do
have a companion that can show us the precise moves we need to make, regardless of how the
pieces are laid out. That companion is Gale. We will just need to send one of our companions back to camp and go get Gale in the
party, then return to the Wyrmway. Once there, we can interact with the Statue
of Balduran to trigger Gale’s offer of help. Gale will only tell us once, so we should
save before accepting his help. Once we do, Gale will tell us what pieces
we will need to move and where. After completing this trial, we
can go get Minsc back in the party. The fourth and final trial is to the southeast.
For this, we will need to have one character hold the Cemetery-Blue Torch for the duration of
the trial, while the remaining party members fight off waves of elementals. Putting the
torch away will cause us to fail the trial. Picking up the torch on our Sorcerer
will remove our Kereskas’s Favour buff, from our legendary staff. Meanwhile, both our
Fighter and Monk need their hands free in order to fight effectively. It is for this reason that our
Cleric is the best character to hold the torch. We can use twinned haste here to
speed up both Minsc and Karlach, but overall we should do our best to conserve
resources during this fight. Given that only 2 additional elementals spawn per round, this
shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish. Once all rounds are over, the trial
will be successfully completed. Upon successfully completing all four trials, the Double Iron Doors will open, and we
can proceed into the Dragon’s Sanctum. Before we do, we will want to make sure we
have plenty of Ki points for stunning strikes, Sorcery points and spell slots
for twinned haste, and so on. Within the Dragon’s Sanctum, we can
interact with the Statue of Balduran, then move further north. I recommend saving
the game before trying to loot Ansur, and pause this video until after
you’ve done that to avoid spoilers. This is one of those situations where we
really want to go through the dialogue slowly, but doing so will also prevent us from properly
preparing for combat. So, because of that, we can go through the dialogue with Ansur and
then revert to the save just before looting Ansur. Then, we can enter turn-based mode, and do all
of our preparation. We will want to use twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc. We can also have
our Cleric/Wizard use Haste on our Sorcerer. Once we are ready, we can save one last time,
then exit turn-based mode and loot Ansur, and we will want to skip through the
following dialogue as fast as possible, in order to preserve our
temporary buffs. This fight is pretty tough if we don’t make the
right moves and understand how Ansur works. In addition, we will need to meet certain conditions
during this fight in order to get an Achievement. First off, Ansur is immune to
both Lightning and Poison damage, and is resistant to Necrotic damage. Secondly, once per turn, Ansur will hit the first character that attacks them
with a blast of Lightning breath. Thirdly, getting within Melee
range of Ansur usually results in taking an opportunity attack,
which can knock characters prone. Finally, these attacks can hit more than
a single target, so we will need to keep the triggering character away from the rest of
our party, in order to avoid collateral damage. As a side note, I recommend
saving often during this fight, pretty much after every thing that goes right. Considering all of these things, we will
want to start by using Misty Step on our Sorcerer to move them to a safe location.
They are the linchpin of this whole combat. If concentration on twinned haste is
broken, the results will be devastating. Next, we need our Fighter to trigger the
opportunity attack from Ansur, in a direction that is away from the other party members. If they are
knocked prone, then the Cleric can help them up. With Ansur’s reaction spent, we can
safely move everyone but the Monk a safe distance away from Ansur.
We will want to make sure that our Fighter has enough movement
remaining to get back to Ansur. Up next, we want our Monk to
strike Ansur first, as a Monk, they will take no damage from the Lightning
Breath attack if they succeed the saving throw, and only half of the damage on a failure. We
will also want to use stunning strikes for each attack. The goal is to burn through Ansur’s
Legendary Resistance, and hopefully stun him. Once Ansur is stunned, we can open up with
our remaining attacks and get in some Flurry of Blows for good measure. We can also have our
fighter move in for even more damage. We do not, however, want to kill Ansur just yet,
though that likely won’t be possible. The next turn, we will want to repeat the first
few steps from the first turn. Before doing that though, we can have our Sorcerer twin cast Chain
Lightning on the two water elementals to start wearing them down. If our Sorcerer is hasted,
this can be done twice. We will then want to have our fighter provoke an opportunity attack,
then have our monk eat the lightning breath. Again, we are not trying to
kill Ansur at this point, and we also don’t want to
stun him this time around. Next, we will want to use Wholeness of
Body on our Monk to regain Ki Points, as we will want as many as possible
in order to get the achievement. At this point, we want to damage
Ansur down to around 30 HP or less, without defeating or stunning them. If we have remaining actions or
bonus actions on our heavy hitters, we can have them break off from
Ansur to finish off the Elementals. On their next turn, Ansur will begin to
gather power. To get the achievement, we need to knock Ansur out of the sky while
they are Hoarding Energy. For some reason, Ansur did not appear to actually
be airborne when hoarding energy, but the Hoarding Energy condition stated that
they were airborne, and hopefully that is enough. I am not 100% sure if this means that we need
to defeat Ansur while they’re hoarding power, or if just stunning them will suffice. Because
of that, we can try both. We will start by saving the game, then have our Monk hit Ansur
with Stunning Strikes until one is successful. That might do it, if not, we can
try reloading the previous save and just spam Ansur with non-stunning
attacks to defeat them outright instead. Doing either of these should unlock
the “Crash Landing” achievement. Also, fair warning to players
on Honour Mode. When defeated, Ansur will come back from the dead and
immediately start Hoarding Energy again. They will need to be defeated before
their next turn to avert annihilation. Shortly after Ansur is defeated, The
Emperor will speak with us. We can learn as much or as little about them as
we want in the conversation that follows. The real prize here is Balduran’s Giantslayer,
a legendary greatsword that can be looted from Ansur. This is the best weapon in the game for a
fighter. In addition, we can grab the Legendary Helm of Balduran from the pedestal to the north.
It is also great on a fighter and can be combined with the Broodmother’s Revenge necklace for
a constant poison damage buff in combat. A new passage will open, and we can make
our way out through the prison. However, we should also be able to fast travel
straight from the Dragon’s Sanctum. If we go back to camp, we can speak with Wyll
about Ansur’s fate. At this point, we can either support Wyll’s choice to become a politician, or
persuade him to stay a hero, which is the choice I went with. If you are not romancing Karlach and
want her to live, I recommend doing the same. I will be going back to the House of Hope, for
two reasons. One is to regenerate resources, the other is to buff the Giantslayer
Greatsword with the Drakethroat Glaive. As long as Karlach has the Drakthroat
Glaive equipped at the time of using the Restoration Faucet, it should get
back its Elemental Weapon ability, which we can then use on Minsc
while he has his new sword equipped. Fully kitted and refreshed, we can begin
completing other major activities. Now, there are a whole lot of things to do in Act 3. Rather
than try to cover every single small activity, I will be focusing on companion quests, legendary
items, and recruiting allies against the absolute. Let’s start with the remaining Legendary Items that we will need to go out of our
way to get, of which there are two. For the first, we will go to the
Basilisk Gate Waypoint. We can then equip our Headband of Intellect and head
into the Flaming Fist barracks nearby. There, we will find Lora speaking with a Flaming Fist
about her missing daughter. If we succeed on a passive Arcana check, followed by an active
Arcana check, we will be able to identify what is wrong with the Fist. Either way,
we can agree to help find Lora’s daughter. This calls for us to go to the Blushing Mermaid,
which is southeast of the Baldur’s Gate Waypoint. Within the Blushing Mermaid, we can
go through the Oak Door near the bar. We can jump up near the vines and walk
through an illusory wall of bricks, lockpicking a door on the other side. We’ll then want to sneak our way past
the enemies, around the tripwire trap, and lockpick our way through
the wooden wall to the north. We need to set ourselves up for
the impending combat. To start, we can enter turn-based mode and cast
twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc. Minsc can stand near the Pearlspore Bell
in the northeast corner of the room, and Karlach, our Monk, can jump
over to the one in the northwest cavern. We can then save the game and have
Karlach punch the Pearlspore Bell until it is destroyed. Pause until after
you’ve done that to avoid spoilers. The first thing we will want to do is
make sure Karlach is in the combat, and ideally, going before Ethel in
the turn-order. We can then use Step of the Wind Dash to reach and destroy the
Pearlspore Bell in the southeast cavern. We can then have Minsc destroy the final Bell. Once all 3 Pearlspore Bells have
been destroyed, we can have both Karlach and Minsc converge on Auntie Ethel.
We will want to toggle on Non-Lethal damage, then defeat Auntie Ethel before she is able to
take her turn and summon additional enemies. Once Auntie Ethel is unconscious, we can cut
Vanra out, earning approval from our companions. After Vanra runs off, we can loot the
Ring of Feywild Sparks from Auntie Ethel. Next, we’ll fast travel to the Lower City
Central wall and move southwest. We can find Lora’s House across the street from the Beehive
Goods and Wares. Speaking with Lora will get us the Legendary Rapier, Duellist’s Prerogative,
along with the very rare Amulet of the Windrider. We can then move south to Old Garlow’s
house. We’ll need to lockpick the door, then go inside. There, we’ll find
a group of Auntie Ethel’s victims, including Mayrina. For helping them out, we
will be rewarded with the Fey Semblance Amulet. For the other Legendary weapon, we’ll
head to the Circus of the Last Days, northwest of the Rivington Fast Travel Point. To get in, we can speak with Klaus
and pass an easy skill check. Let’s start by speaking with Akabi, a short
distance to the west. In order to beat him at his own game, we will need to get his Djinni Ring off
of him. It can be pickpocketed, but we can also just trade with him during the initial dialogue
and buy it off him. We can then spin the wheel to win the game. We can plead ignorance, at which
point we will be teleported to another dimension. In order to make traveling around easier,
we can use a potion of invisibility, and even a potion of flying, then move around
in turn-based mode. Up to the southwest is a skeleton with a bag nearby. Within the
bag is the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. After that, we can make our way
southeast to an island of sorts. We will want to either pick up or lock
pick the painted chest before leaving. Inside the painted chest is the Legendary Trident, Nyrulna. It is basically a jacked up
version of the Returning Pike, but we have to be careful where we throw it because
it can damage friendly or neutral creatures. Taking the portal will have us pop out near
Popper, and he sells some useful items, including a set of unique magic gloves. If we want, we can speak with
Zethino, she’s located to the north of Akabi. She offers a test to see
how well we know our romance interest. Next, we can equip the Headband of Intellect,
use a potion of animal speaking, and talk to Shadow-Whiskers the Displacer Beast. If we
manage to succeed on an investigation check, we can break the lock so that
the cage cannot be opened. After that, we can speak with Crimson
and give them a piece of meat to eat. Finally, we will want to save before heading
towards the stage to the northeast. If we say “What a corny joke.” we’ll get approval from
our companions. We can volunteer Minsc for the stage to get more approval. Pause here
until after the dialogue to avoid spoilers. Shortly after doing this, a combat encounter will
start. In order to save the innocent bystanders, we will need to defeat “Dribbles” the
clown before he is able to take his turn. We might need to use twinned
haste in order to accomplish this, but at this point both Minsc and
Karlach should be hitting pretty hard. When defeated, the Doppleganger Dribbles
will drop the Clown Hammer. Afterwards, we can speak with Lucretious
and agree to look for Dribbles. If we do find all pieces of Dribbles,
Lucretious will give us a pair of magic gloves as a reward, although
it is fairly underwhelming. We’ll want to get Shadowheart in
the party for this next part. First, if we leave Shadowheart behind, we can go East
of the Rivington Waypoint. In the refugee camp, we can find and speak with Ferg Drogher and
talk him into letting us access his wares, and he will have a few unique magic items. Once we have gotten everything we want
from Drogher, we can bring Shadowheart close to speak with him, and allow
her to handle it. If she used the Noblestalk back in Act 1, we’ll
get some unique dialogue here. We can then send Shadowheart back
to camp and get Gale in the party. Around this time, we can speak with Wyll
back at camp about his plans as the Blade of Avernus. Success on a passive perception
check will allow us to dissuade Wyll from recklessly pursuing Mizora, although I am
not sure this has any actual consequences. Moving on, south of the Wyrm’s Crossing
Waypoint, we’ll find the Sword Coast Couriers. Out by the kennels, we can speak with Angry Mar’hyah. We can mention that we
found one of her dogs, Scratch. She will try to take Scratch back, but we can use
intimidation or persuasion to keep Scratch safe and part of the camp. We can then use deception
or intimidation to help guarantee a better future for all the dogs at the kennels. All of this
will gain us approval from our companions. Next, we can speak with Danzo inside. If
we ask why delivery is not guaranteed, we can start a small quest for him to
track down missing letters. I definitely recommend going upstairs to speak with
the Pigeons, as they are pretty funny. “I am Commander Lightfeather, leader of the finest aerial communication regiment
this side of the Chionthar.” If we haven’t already leveled
up Gale, we can do so, learning and preparing the Grant Flight
spell to make this next part easier. We can then walk west across the street, to
the Open Hand Temple. Rather than go inside, we will have Gale use Grant
Flight on the whole party, then fly up to the rooftop. There, we’ll
find a Tressym guarding a stack of letters. Speaking to the Tressym with Gale in the party
will trigger a unique interaction. We can tell Gale to stop Tara from eating the Courier Pigeons.
We will also gain the Ring of Blink. With that, we can grab the bundle of letters and bring them
back to Danzo, although this is purely optional. We can send Gale to camp for now,
and get the main group back together. If we go into the Open Hand Temple,
we can speak with Brother Bill and Clements. If we say “Your God would have been
proud…” we will get some approval from Minsc. We can also speak with Sister Yannis
and agree to investigate the murder. Feel free to investigate on your
own, but we will be covering the bare essentials on how to figure out
the true identity of the murderer. Before we do that, though, let’s go
solve the problem of the Sentient Amulet, and this is completely optional. We can equip
it on our MC, then move west into the kitchen, where we can take a wooden hatch to the Basement. We will move through the door to the
south, then through the doors to the west, into the temple crypts. We can read the Plaque
on the sarcophagus in the southwest corner of the room, then open it to trigger an
interaction with the Sentient Amulet. The Monk should eventually inhabit the body
and speak with the wearer of the Sentient Amulet. We can say “If it will bring you
peace, I will bear the madness.” This will require us to succeed on two skill
checks to avoid any ill-effects. We will be rewarded with the ability to cast Tasha’s
Hideous Laughter once per day. Unfortunately, the Sentient Amulet will also
lose its magical properties. Feel free to explore this cave system, as you may
find additional clues to help solve the murder mystery. However, it is not necessary, and we will
be uncovering the murderer’s identity shortly. Before doing that, we can go north of the Courier
house and down the Knotted Roots to find a Cave Entrance to Angleiron’s Cellar. This location
serves as the headquarters of the Ironhand Gnomes. Bumpnagel sells some unique
items, and in the southwest corner we will find both Barcus Wroot
and Wulbren. Speaking with Wulbren, we can agree to help him take down Gortash.
Where we can disagree with Wulbren is the blame he places on the Gondians. We
can instead hold Gortash responsible. In the end, we can agree to
make contact with the Gondians, hoping that they will see reason. This will
gain approval with Minsc. For the best outcome, we can initially decline Wulbren’s bomb,
then speak with him again and accept it. We can then speak with Barcus once more,
and agree to speak to the Gondians. Before leaving, we can use a Darkness
spell to help us steal two Runepowder Barrels in the southern room
where Thula is usually found. We can then go back to camp before
anyone has a chance to stop us. Next, we can go to the South Span of Wyrm’s
Crossing, and speak with Manip Falcao to the southwest. Saying “I won’t do it” will
get us approval with Minsc and Jaheira. Now let’s solve the murders. We’ll go into Fraygos
Flophouse, and make our way up to the third floor. There, we can have Karlach lockpick a wardrobe
to reveal a secret room. We’ll want to put on our headband of intellect, then investigate
the blood near the bed. Upon our success, we will pull out a body. We can use Speak with
Dead on the body to ask some important questions. The first is “How did you die?”
The second is “Who is your son?” The third is “What does your son look
like?” The fourth is “Why did your son kill you?” And the final question
is “What was your son’s secret?” On the table to the west we can find and read a Bloodstained Parchment. We will
also want to take it as evidence. Next, we’ll go to the second
floor of Sharess' Caress, where we can speak with Valeria. After telling
her we’ve found new evidence, we can tell her the murder is part of a Bhaal plot. We can
then show Valeria the Bloodstained Parchment. If we speak with Sister Yannis
back at the Open Hand Temple, which is completely optional, she will
confirm that Brilgor’s name has been cleared, and the temple can extend their
help to the refugees once more. Now that we know the identity of the
murderer, let's put a stop to them. We will start at the Basilisk Gate Waypoint,
then move west, past the Elfsong Tavern. I recommend making a manual save here,
as this is a good mid-point in Act 3. We’ll want to approach the Wine Festival slowly, and we should be able to make out a conspicuous
dwarf in red. While the name might not match, this is in fact Dolor. If we give
Dolor the chance, he will flee. In order to stop that from happening, we
will either need to successfully paralyze him with “Hold Person” which a Cleric can prepare
from their spellbook. Alternatively, we can counterspell Dolor’s attempt to use Dimension
Door. I recommend having both options available. To start out, we will have our cleric
prepare and cast Hold Person on Dolor. If Dolor manages to get out of it, he will
attempt to cast Dimension Door. At this point, we must react with Counterspell,
and cast it at 5th level or higher, in order to guarantee that it works. From
there, the rest of the encounter is quite easy. Once we’ve defeated Dolor, we’ll need to
quickly deal with the remaining doppelgangers to protect the surrounding bystanders.
Within the estate, we can speak with Cora Highberry to be rewarded for our deed.
This is the earliest we can defeat Dolor, and doing so will put an end to his spree and
prevent any more innocents from being killed. We can also loot Dolor for
several unique magic items, along with a bag of hands and a torn bloody page,
both of which are necessary for a major quest. With those items in hand, we can
head to Candulhallow’s Tombstones, north of the Elfsong Tavern. We will need to
have Karlach hide, then lockpick the entrance. At the back of the shop we can move a painting
to reveal a button. We will click that button, then interact with the newly revealed Cellar
Door. Assuming we’ve read the torn bloody page, we can speak the pass phrase:
Sicarius. This will grant us access. In order to get an achievement, we will
want to make a save that we can revert back to. We should then have Jaheira cast
Enhance Ability: Eagle’s Splendour on us. We should leave companions outside the
passageway, making our way in alone. Once inside, we should equip anything that will
help us with deception checks, such as the Silver Pendant, Ring of Geniality, and Birthright Hat,
then make our way to the Tribunal Antechamber. We can offer up the bag of hands we got from Dolor
to gain an audience at the Murder Tribunal. There, we will need to say “I want to become
an Unholy Assassin…” followed by “I am ready to be judged.” Because we haven’t
actually committed any heinous acts, we will need to pass a difficult deception check
to fool the tribunal, but given all our buffs, this should be fairly easy. To become
an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal, we will then need to follow Sarevok into the southern
chamber, and sacrifice Valeria the Hollyphant. This should unlock the “Murder
in Baldur’s Gate Achievement” If we want, we can speak with the Echo of Abazigal
in the main tribunal area. He offers unique magic items for Unholy Assassins. That being said,
this is more just to satisfy our curiosity, as we will be reverting to the save
before entering the secret passageway. We can then make our way to the Tribunal
once more, this time with our companions. Saving after speaking to the Death Knights is
a good idea. We can then cast Twinned Haste on our MC and Minsc before moving forward. There
will be a unique interaction between Jaheira, Minsc, and Sarevok, and we will eventually need
to side with Minsc and Jaheira, against Sarevok. Any spell we try to cast will
be counterspelled, so instead, we can have Jaheir throw a Potion
of Speed on Karlach and herself. We should prioritize either stunning
or outright defeating Sarevok before he takes his turn. Once Sarevok is dead,
the 3 Death Knights will automatically die. We can then focus on defeating the
remaining members of the Murder Tribunal. Sarevok drops the Sword of Chaos, along
with his Horned Helmet when defeated. Both items are very good but I don’t think
they top the items we already have on Minsc. We will also get the Amulet
of Bhaal, which we will need soon. Before leaving, we can interact with
the Keyhole to the south. This will open a secret chamber where Valeria can be
found, whom we can free and gain as an ally. On our way out of the crypt, we can
loot the Blackguard’s armor set, sword, and shield off the Death Knights. Before continuing, it may be a good
idea to visit the House of Hope, where we can regenerate our resources. Next, we’ll fast travel to the
Baldur’s Gate waypoint and take the Manhole down to the sewers. We’ll
go through the door to the northwest, then move further north to
the Undercity Ruins Waypoint. To the west is the Penitent
Bareki, whom we can trade with. Once we are ready, we can interact with the locked
door near the Undercity Ruins Waypoint. To gain access, we can say “I have an Amulet of Bhaal…”
followed by “I slaughtered the murder tribunal.” Walking north through the corridor will trigger
an ambush encounter. We can prepare for it by entering turn-based mode, using haste on Karlach,
our monk, and having her use a potion of Flying. We can then move forward to trigger the
encounter. To end this encounter quickly, we’ll need to defeat the Farslayer. He can
be reached most easily by flying first to the ledge with the reapers, and then directly to
him. The Farslayer has 5 stacks of unstoppable, but Karlach should be able to burn through
all of them and defeat him in a single turn, though a Flurry of Blows might be necessary. Once the Farslayer is defeated, we
should be able to end everyone’s turn, and the remaining enemies should
just disappear, ending the encounter. We can then proceed to the northern corner of the
ruins and go through the metal door. Along the way down, we can loot the Clown’s Severed Head
off of Wilting Alex, just watch out for traps. At the bottom of the staircase, we’ll discover
the Temple of Bhaal waypoint. From there, we’ll move east to the Solid Doors.
We can interact with them and Press the Amulet against the door to gain
entrance to the Temple of Bhaal. Moving towards the bottom, we’ll
stop on the final staircase. There, we can enter turn-based mode and prepare for
an encounter with Twinned-Haste. We can also have Jaheira use Haste on our Sorcerer.
We will want to save before proceeding. As a quick aside, If you are playing Dark Urge
and still need the “First Blood” achievement, you may be able to get it by confronting
Orin while your Main Character is kept a far distance back. After getting that
achievement, you can then revert to a save before the fight and confront Orin on your
Main Character for the special Dark Urge duel. Once ready, we can move towards Orin
on our most charismatic character, and we can take our time in this dialogue.
In order to save our abducted companion, we will need to succeed on a difficult
speech check. We also cannot have Jaheira cast Guidance on us if she
is concentrating on the Haste Spell. To get an achievement in the
combat encounter that follows, we will basically need to eat through Orin’s
12 stacks of Unstoppable and defeat her in a single turn. To do this, we can hit her with two
magic missiles, upcasted to level 4 or higher. At that point, both Karlach and
Minsc can move in to finish the job. Doing this should get us
the “First Blood” achievement. Once we’ve gotten that, we
can clean up the remaining enemies within the next 1 or 2 rounds of combat. Now, if you are playing a Dark Urge character,
it is at this point that you can accept Bhaal’s gift to get the “Embrace Your Urge”
achievement. This may also be necessary to get the “Sins of the Father” achievement
later on, but I am not 100% sure of that. After the fight, we can loot Orin’s Gore
Pile for several nice pieces of gear, including the Legendary Crimson
Mischief, which is in addition to the Legendary Bloodthirst dagger that
we should have picked up automatically. We will also want to free our trapped companion
from the Altar of Bhaal, using the key from Orin, and speak with them. We can also go explore
Orin’s chambers to learn more about her. At some point following this encounter,
The Emperor will tell us that no one can control the brain and that we
must hurry. Despite his word’s, there is no hidden timer or countdown to
worry about, and we can take our time. Let’s go ahead and take care of the Mystic
Carion now, as he has some useful items. Starting at the Heapside Strand Waypoint,
we can save, then move a short distance west and then south around the stinking house.
There, we should be able to discover a Stone Wall with a passive perception check, and then
lockpick it, although it is admittedly a very difficult DC of 25. We can then go through the
double doors and speak with the Mystic Carion. We should not give him gold to
summon any spirits, as it is a scam. While there is a more natural and
proper way to complete Carion’s quest, we are going to do it the quick way for
this guide. We can start by saying “I came to offer my own service…”
followed by “You’ve got a deal.” To find Thrumbo, we will head northeast of
the Heapside Strand Waypoint, climb down the Knotted Roots, and enter the small house.
Opening the wardrobe will reveal Thrumbo. We can say “I came to find you…” and follow it by
asking “Why?”. We can then agree to help Thrumbo. Next, we’ll fast travel to the Undercity Ruins and
move west into the passageway. Looting anything here will trigger a somewhat tedious encounter,
and I personally don’t think the loot is worth it. Instead, we should be able to save and
then discover a hidden door to the north with a passive perception check. We can
then either lockpick or break it down. This will trigger an encounter in which
Spellcasters are severely punished. We don’t actually need to engage in this
encounter if we don’t want to. Instead, we can have Karlach move to the northwest corner
of the room and read the Funerary Jar Form and Function on the table. This will provide us with
the information we need to complete the quest. We can then dash to the Ladder at the north
end of the room and take it to safety, and we can do this on all of our characters. We will then return to Thrumbo and tell him
that the canopic jar is inside his chest. The jar will explode when destroyed, so we will
want to place it somewhere it won’t hurt anyone, such as on the rooftop of Thrumbos house,
then shoot it with a firebolt from afar. Once we’ve done that, we can return
to the Mystic Carion and put an end to him. He will drop his unique
Staff of Cherished Necromancy, along with the other items that he had
available for trade. The Hood of the Weave is better than the Birthright when
it comes to combat effectiveness. However, I enjoy the benefits provided by having a higher
Charisma score, mainly easier speech checks. Thrumbo will also return and express
his gratitude and take over for the Mystic Carion. For our efforts, we’ll
be rewarded with the Crypt Lord Ring Around this time, we will max out at level 12. We can take the Circle of Death spell on Sorcerer,
and the Dual Wielder feat will allow us to use two staffs at the same time. We can also switch
out the Mage Armor spell for the level four Necromancy Spell, Blight. The Staff of Cherished
Necromancy will allow us to cast the Circle of Death spell and/or Blight Spell many times at no
cost, thanks to its Life Essence Harvest trait. We won’t get a feat on Jaheira, but we should be able to get the level 6 spell
Heroes’ Feast at this time. For Karlach, we can either take another level in
Rogue to gain an additional feat. Or we can take a level in Monk for Advanced Unarmoured Movement,
Ki Resonation, and another Ki Point. Given that I don’t have a great choice for another feat,
I usually go with the extra level in Monk. Before continuing, we may want
to visit the House of Hope to regenerate our resources. We can also have
Jaheira use Heroes’ Feast on the party. Next up, we’re going to get Shadowheart
in the party to complete her quest. We can also speak with Halsin
about saving him from Orin. If we didn’t already do it,
we can also speak with Volo, and let him know that we already defeated the
Slayer. This will lock in Volo as an ally, and allow us to peruse his wares, which
includes The Whispering Promise, a unique ring. As far as who we should replace in the party
for Shadowheart, that’s a tough choice. As a Cleric, Jaheira is going to be the least
helpful during Shadowheart’s quest. That being said, Jaheira also has some unique
interactions during Shadowheart’s quest. In any case, I think we can carry the
group with just a Sorcerer and Minsc, so long as we have enough Chain
Lightning casts available. But if you want this next encounter to be easier,
bring along Karlach instead of Jaheira. Once Shadowheart is in the group,
we will fast travel to the Baldur’s Gate waypoint. We can then move a short
distance south before turning west. Once we reach a smaller alley we can head
north on it to the House of Grief. There, we will speak to Mirie,
agree to the Mapping of the Heart, and follow her to the back room. Upon interacting
with the Granite Bench, we can allow Shadowheart to take the lead. Both Jaheira and Minsc
will have unique lines of dialogue here. Afterwards, we can enter the
Cloister of Sombre Embrace. Before approaching Viconia, we
can prepare for combat by casting twinned haste on the Sorcerer and Fighter,
having Jaheira cast Haste on Shadowheart, and having Shadowheart cast a level 4 Spirit
Guardians. We can then save and approach Viconia to initiate a dialogue. It seems
like as long as we don’t switch to Minsc during that dialogue, his haste won’t
wear off and we can take our time here. In any case, we will eventually need to decline
Viconia’s request to surrender Shadowheart, at which point, a combat encounter will ensue. Before doing anything, be warned that
Viconia has the Radiant Retort feature, which will punish us heavily for
dealing Radiant Damage to her. To start off, if we have two Clerics, each of them can help a pretty good amount with
Radiant Destructive Wave spells. Meanwhile, Minsc can start cleaning up the enemies
atop the staircases near the back. Next, we can severely injure Viconia and
further decimate her forces with a total of 3 Chain Lightnings, taking advantage of our
Quickened Spell and Twinned Spell metamagics, along with the free casts of Chain Lightning we get from Kereska’s Lightning
and the Arcane Battery Passive. To avoid a bug, we may need to knock
Viconia out with a melee attack, while we have non-lethal attacks
toggled on. We then want to avoid damaging her any further while she is downed.
Because Viconia starts the fight with Sanctuary, we will have to wait until she attacks on
her first turn before we can knock her out. We should save before knocking Viconia out.
If doing this causes the next part to bug out, we can revert to the last save and try taking her down with lethal damage. Hopefully one
of these methods will avoid any bugs. After the encounter, we can speak with Viconia.
Viconia should explain to Shadowheart what has been done to her and the reasons why. In addition,
there will be a special interaction with both Minsc and Jaheira. We will eventually have
to choose to either spare and let Viconia go, or to end her. Letting Viconia go will
earn approval from Jaheira. However, ending Viconia will get us approval from Minsc,
and will also give us her loot, which includes the Legendary Shield, Viconia’s Walking Fortress. This
shield is great on either a Sorcerer or Cleric. However we decide to handle it, we will then
be free to find Shadowheart’s Parents. To the west is an Altar of Shar with a diamond
in the offerings bowl. In order to proceed, we will need to place valuables in the bowl
until the door to the west unlocks. This will take somewhere around 1000 gold pieces of
valuables, and straight gold also works. Beyond the door is the Chamber of Loss, and
there, we will find Shadowheart’s Parents. Interacting with them will trigger a major story
moment for Shadowheart, as well as a decision. In the end, Shadowheart will need to decide
whether to free her parents, or end their suffering, as well as her own. Getting Shadowheart
to save her parents will require succeeding on a DC20 speech check. Which choice is best? That
is up for each person to decide, and it won’t affect any other story outcomes, achievements,
or rewards. Skip this next part if you want to make your choice blind, but here is a brief
summary of how each choice affects Shadowheart. If she ends her parents’ suffering, she will be
free to live a more adventurous life on her own, once the threat of the Absolute has been
dealt with. She will miss her parents, but will be happier overall. If she saves her parents, she will remain
afflicted by her mysterious wound, and always know that Shar does not want her to be happy. However,
she will insist that she is happy because she has her family back, and will settle down for a
quieter life with them once the Absolute is defeated. In addition, if her parents are saved,
they will join the camp and can offer additional information about what happened to Shadowheart,
and the nature of her mysterious wound. All of that said, I will be persuading Shadowheart
to save her Parents for the purpose of this guide. After making our decision, we can speak briefly
with Shadowheart. We will then want to equip our Headband of Intellect and interact with the Mirror
of Loss at the west end of the chamber. Succeeding in either an Arcana Check or Religion Check will
allow us to understand the purpose of the mirror. If we manage that, we can surrender a memory
to the mirror, and we will want to choose the Forbidden Knowledge memory. At the time
of making this video, we won’t actually lose any features on our character, but it
will allow us to select one ability score to increase by 2 points. As a Sorcerer, the obvious
choice is Charisma, or “The guile of a bard…” Along with wearing the Birthright Hat, our
Charisma should now be at an astounding 22, all without any Ability Score
Increases from leveling up. Before leaving, there are two
things we can do in the Cloister. First, in the Dormitory to the north, we will
find a tiefling named Nocturne. If Shadowheart consumed the Noblestalk back in act 1, she will
have some unique dialogue here. In either case, Shadowheart and Nocturne can remain
friends, despite their differences. We can also trade with Nocturne, although
she doesn’t have anything unique on offer. If we speak to Nocturne with Shadowheart,
we can learn more about Shadowheart’s past. Finally, we can go southeast, to the armory.
If we break through the wooden barricade, we will discover Shadowheart’s sanctuary
within the Cloister. There are Night Orchids and some interesting notes, and
we can talk with Shadowheart about it. As long as we don’t plan on using it at a later
point, we can make use of Shadowheart’s Divine Intervention here. We can first convert
all of our spell slots to Sorcery Points, then have Shadowheart use Divine Intervention:
Opulent Revival. At the time of making this video, we should keep all the extra Sorcery Points on our
Sorcerer, as well as get back all our Spell Slots. Next, we’re going to complete Astarion’s Quest,
and for that, we’ll swap him out with Shadowheart. It would actually be way easier if we didn’t bring
Astarion along, and instead just brought Karlach, but that would also cause us to miss
out on some really great story moments. I haven’t leveled Astarion up yet, but because
of that, I also don’t need to change his class at all. You can go all into Rogue on Astarion
if you want to experiment. But personally, I will only take him to level 3 in
rogue to get the thief subclass, then put the rest of his levels into Open Hand
Monk, giving him the same feats as Karlach, those being Tavern Brawler and Alert. He won’t
be as optimized as Karlach, but giving him an Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength should suffice
for the short time we will have him in the party. We can take Karlach’s items and
give them to Astarion to use, which will make things a little easier,
but I don’t think it will be necessary. With Astarion in the group, we can fast travel
to the Lower City Central Wall. After going up the central watch tower, we’ll head north
into another tower, and climb our way up. A speech check will allow us to pass the
guards without incident. We can then move further north, eventually reaching
the entrance to the Szarr Palace. Once inside, we’ll first need to make our
way downstairs. Near the Dormitory Wing, Astarion should reveal the
Door to the Kennel for us. Inside, we’ll speak to Godey. A fight is basically
guaranteed, but Godey is pretty easy to defeat. We will need to grab the Szarr Family Ring from
Godey, then move south to the Guest Room. There is a cursed body in the guest room, so we
will want to send Astarion in alone, using Step of the Wind: Dash to move more efficiently. We will
need to grab the Kozakuran Dictionary from one of the wardrobes to the southeast. We can also grab
the Opulent Chest and carry it out of the room. Once we are back to safety, we can open the
Opulent Chest to get the Helmet of Grit. Next, we will read the dictionary we just
picked up, then return upstairs. There, we can open the Sinister Door by pressing the Family Signet Ring against the door
and reading the inscription aloud. We can use our Charges of Consume Life
Essence to cast Circle of Death for free, making this encounter very easy, just
be sure not to hit Allies with it. Afterwards, we can make our way
southwest to the Office Hall, and take the Dais down to Cazador’s dungeon. Next, we will move north and
pass through the Crypt Gate, then speak with the prisoners to the east. To
gain approval from both Astarion and Minsc, we will want to pass the persuasion check
when it is presented. We can then say “We’ll find a way.” followed by “Like
I said - we’ll set you free.” We can also speak with the prisoners to the west, and eventually say “All right, I’ll
free you once I have the staff.” Astarion will want to speak with us
after, and we should say “You can save them.” followed by “There’s still hope
for them. You got out. You got better.” To confront Cazador, we will move further
north, down the grand staircase. We can prepare for combat by casting twinned
haste on both Minsc and our Sorcerer, and have Jaheira cast Haste on
herself, but we will need to approach Cazador on Minsc and also make
sure Jaheira is involved in the dialogue, in order to prevent Haste from wearing off
on them during the dialogue that follows. At the start of combat, if we knock Cazador prone
with a trip attack, we should be able to defeat him in a single turn with action surge and haste.
If Cazador happens to be first in the Turn Order, we can counter whichever spell he
casts. He may also Misty Escape, for this, we can have Jaheira approach
with The Blood of Lathander equipped. The passive trait should cause Sunlight
Hypersensitivity in Cazador, dispelling his misty form. It is at this point that we
can move in on Minsc and take Cazador down. Once Cazador is defeated,
Astarion will be free to act, and we can begin dealing with all the
ads. We want to be careful not to harm any of the unwilling participants in the
ritual, and that means no chain lightning. We can use the Distant Spell metamagic with a
high level Magic Missile to pick off the bats, zap the whole backline with
a well-placed lightning bolt, then have Minsc and Astarion clean up the
remaining enemies over the next 1 or 2 rounds. Once combat ends, we can interact with the
Sarcophagus to trigger a pivotal story moment for Astarion, with a major choice. Astarion will have
to choose between stopping Cazador’s ritual, or finish it himself. The powers that Astarion gets
from the ritual are pretty neat. That being said, if we want the Gur as allies, for Astarion to be
truly free and happy, and to do the morally good thing, we will need to say “If I help you complete
the ritual, it will kill all these people.” Then, in order to not lose Astarion as a
companion, we can either go straight for a Persuasion check with a DC of 18, or start
with an Insight check with a DC of 20. Even if we fail the insight check, we can still do
the one available Persuasion check. However, if we succeed on the Insight check, we will
get a new Persuasion option, with a DC of 15. Either way, Astarion will approve, and will stop
the ritual by killing Cazador. We can then let Astarion’s fellow spawn go free, and release the
remaining prisoners, including the Gur children. Before leaving, we should grab the High
Security Vault No. 3 Key from the Sarcophagus, along with the Rhapsody Dagger from Cazador. We
will have also gotten the Woe staff from Cazador. Next, we can briefly speak with
Astarion about Cazador’s downfall, then head south out of the dungeon. Near
the fast travel point, we will be met by the Gur. Had we completed the ritual, they
would have engaged us in combat. However, because we set the children free, the Gur will
instead become our Allies against the absolute. After this, we can toggle off the Lathander’s
Light passive, then go to the City Sewers to find Gandrel speaking with his vampiric children.
We can suggest letting the children feed on animal blood, and despite their struggle, the 3
are happy to have been given a chance to live. With that, we can return to our camp. Our next quest to complete is for Dame Aylin. Once we get the main party back together,
we can go speak with Aylin. We can tell her about Lorroakan and his plans, and agree to
help put an end to them. After she leaves, we can speak with Isobel and say
that we are going to help Aylin. To do that, we can return to the Lower
City Central Wall and go through the Blue Portal in Sorcerous Sundries.
In the conversation that follows, we will need to side with Aylin against Lorroakan. In order to eventually get the
“Leave No One Behind” achievement, we will need to make sure Rolan survives
the combat encounter that follows. To that end, we can have our
Cleric cast Sanctuary on Rolan, then use Twinned Haste on Karlach and Minsc. Lorroakan has a really strong reaction
ability, but if we stun him or knock him prone with our first attack on Karlach, he
won’t have the chance to take that reaction. We can try to spare Miklaur from
death by using non-lethal attacks, but in all likelihood, Aylin will end
up killing him on her turn anyways. Once Lorroakan is dead, we can finish off the remaining enemies
over the next 1 or 2 rounds of combat. After combat, we can speak with Aylin, and she will agree to meet us back at
camp. We can also speak with Rolan. He will take command of Ramazith’s Tower and
join us as an Ally against the Absolute. Before leaving, we can loot a
couple magic items off of Lorroakan, neither of which are all that great. Aylin will return to camp after our
next long rest, but there is no rush. In the meantime, we’re going to
complete Gale’s Quest. To do that, we’ll hop down the floating
furniture to the lower level. There, we will want to interact with the
Weave Button near the southeast wall, labeled “Vaults”. We will need to do this with
all characters to get everyone down there. We can open or break the display case near
where we appear to access The Red Knight’s Final Strategem. Reading this legendary book will
reward us with the Scroll of Artistry of War, a unique single use spell that can be learned
permanently by any wizard, such as Gale. Moving south, we will enter a
hallway with invisible floors. As a quick aside and cool Easter
Egg, if we go east, past a chest, we can pass through an illusory wall. Beyond
it is a Peculiar Lamp. If we interact with it, we will be trapped within the lamp. You can
play this however you like, and I don’t believe there are any unique items here. That being
said, we will need a specific item to escape. After looting everything useful here, we
can find the Scroll of Summon Quasit in the chest on the northeast side of the room, and
summoning it will release us from the lamp. Getting back on track, we will move south,
into a room with a portal. For this next part, it is best if we go on just our main character.
We will further south, through an oak door. To the west, we can pass another illusory wall
and read the Legendary Book “Caution Before the Seelie” to get another unique spell
scroll, the Scroll of Bestial Communion. We can then move further south into a new
chamber, where we will need to complete a puzzle, watching out for traps all the while. To
start, we will need to go through the door labeled *Silverhand* followed by the door labeled
*Abjuration* and then the door labeled *Silver*, and we can pull the lever near this door to disarm
the Gargoyle Heads. Again, we will be careful not to step on the trap Marble Plates as we make
our way to the lever at the back of this room. After pulling the lever, we can back into the
previous room and through the door labeled *Demon* Next, we will once again go through the
door labeled *Silverhand*. This time, however, we will go through the door
labeled *Evocation* followed by the door labeled *Wish*. The traps
will be set up identically here, and after pulling the big lever, we can go
through the door labeled *Invulnerability*. We can now go through the door labeled
*Karsus*. Within this vault, we will find the Legendary “Annals of Karsus”. Reading this
book will give us the unique Scroll of Dethrone, and we will also need to take this book for
Gale to read. There are also lots of nice spell scrolls and the Very Rare Foebreaker
Maul to pick up before we head back out. Next, we can go through the
door labeled *Elminster*. We will find the Pyroquickness hat in one of
the chests, along with the Legendary “Tharchiate Codex'' locked in a display case. We will want to
make sure we read this book on our main character. Doing so will give us the Tharchiate
Withering curse. However, if we have a cleric cast Remove Curse on us, it will be
replaced with the Tharchiate Vigour buff, which is a permanent condition that
gets refreshed after every long rest. In addition, we can now read the final pages of
The Necromancy of Thay book. If we succeed on the final check to do so, we will gain the ability to
cast the Danse Macabre Spell once per Long Rest. With treasures in hand, we can return to the
room with the portal, regroup with our party, and use the portal to leave the
Sorcerous Vault, then return to camp. There, we can either speak to Gale
to give him the Annals of Karsus, or we can place the book on the ground, get Gale
in the Party, then take control of him to read it. You can play this next part how you want, as
it has no bearing on achievements or allies. However, if we want Gale’s condition
to eventually be cured by Mystra, we will need to either tell him to stop
chasing the Crown of Karsus. Or if we take control of Gale to then read the Annals, we
will need to have him make that choice himself. Afterwards, Elminster will show
up at camp. Again, to cure Gale, we want to avoid choices that might
influence Gale to reforge the crown. On the contrary, we will want to push
Gale towards reconciling with Mystra. Once Elminster leaves, we can speak
with Gale, and agree with his request. For that, we will get Gale in the party
and fast travel to the Basilisk Gate, then move a short distance west to the
Stormshore Tabernacle. Upon interacting with the Statue of Mystra, we should
urge Gale to seek her forgiveness, as it might be the only way to cure the orb. Upon
Gale’s return, we can assure him that we’re going to cure him. That is the end of Gale’s quest,
and should set him on the path to being cured. However, there is one more thing we can
do with Gale while he’s in the party, and along the way we will see some familiar faces. Before that, and If we have extra gold, we
can offer it to a deity of our choosing. In order to get a divine blessing, we will need to
donate a total of 4500 gold. This will give us the Anointed in Splendour condition, which adds
a +2 bonus to all Saving Throws. We can return here to get the buff once per adventuring
day, and it lasts until we take a long rest. Before returning to camp, we will head
to the Elfsong Tavern with Gale. There, we can find and speak with Lakrissa on the
ground floor and mention the bet we made with her in the Druid Grove. If we ask about
Alfira, we will be directed to the rooftop. We can head up the stairs to the northeast and
take the Iron Ladder to the rooftop. There, we’ll find Alfira playing her lute. She
will inform us of her plans for the future, and we can give her our blessing. For all that
we’ve done, Alfira will give us her first Lute, although I don’t know that it
actually does anything special. Next, we can have Gale cast Grant Flight on
all of us, then move west across the rooftops. If we can only grant flight to 3 characters, then
Minsc our Fighter can jump across the rooftops.
On the roof of the Devil’s Fee
we can find and speak with Tara, Gale’s Tressym. She sells the unique Hat of
the Sharp Caster. It’s neat to bring Gale along, but at the time of making this video, he
does not have any special dialogue with Tara. With that handled, we can
reassemble our main group, then fast travel to the
Grey Harbour Docks waypoint. From there, we will head south into
the Water Queen’s House. Near the back, we can speak with Allandra Grey. We
can offer 500 gold to gain approval from Minsc. To properly start this quest,
we’ll want to say “Did this person drown?” followed by “I’m good at slaying beasts…”
and “All right - I’ll see what I can do.” This next step is optional, but adds some context
and a unique dialogue option down the road. To do it, we’ll need to sneak our way into the Steel
Watch Foundry, west of the Docks waypoint. There is a Steel Watcher
we will want to sneak past, and we will want to make sure we are hiding
as we make our way through the foundry. We can move along the north side of the building
to avoid an interaction with the slavers, which will only make the lives of the
Gondians worse. If we do end up getting seen by the slavers, we should use deception
to prevent the situation from escalating. In the northwest corner of the
foundry we can lockpick the door that leads into the Security Office. Once there, we can speak with Gondian Zanner Toobin. He
will explain the dire situation of the Gondians, and we can eventually say “There’s always a
way…” and then ask where they are being held. We could go deeper into the Foundry to discover
the whereabouts of the families. However, doing so is risky and also unnecessary. Instead, we can sneak back out of the foundry
and fast travel to the Baldur’s Gate Waypoint. To the south is the Society of Brilliance
headquarters, also known as The Lodge. As a quick aside, we can speak with
Havkelaag about the Githyanki Egg. If we ask about their plans for the egg,
it will quickly become clear that it will be subjected to cruel experimentation.
Also, handing over the egg will result in a pretty bad outcome for everyone
in the Society, so I advise against it. The main reason for coming here is
to speak with Blurg up on the second floor. We can ask about Omeluum’s
whereabouts, then agree to find him. Before proceeding, we will want to make sure
we have all of our resources, spell slots, etc. as well as at least one Potion of
Flying, a few Potions of Supreme Healing, and a few potions of speed. I will also show
the equipment that I have on my characters, and both the boots of speed and Crusher’s
Ring on Minsc will be particularly important. Once we are ready, we can head southeast
of the Baldur’s Gate Waypoint and sneak our way into the Flymm Cargo Warehouse. There are
several worgs that will need to be dispatched, but they are pretty easily handled, especially
if we get surprise. After the fight, we can find a hidden hatch in the northwest corner of the
warehouse, and take it down to the basement. We will then move south to the Subaquatic
Dock. There, we’ll find a submersible, along with its captain, Redhammer. To complete the Water
Queen’s quest, we will need to defeat Redhammer. As far as I know, going to the Iron
Throne is a major milestone in Act 3, and doing this will remove any possibility of an
alliance with Gortash. So, if you are curious, you can make a manual save here to come back to if
you ever want to see how that alliance works out. In any case, after making sure we are ready,
we can save the game, and take the Submersible to the Iron Throne. Overall, I recommend
saving a lot throughout this next encounter. After a cutscene, we will need
to respond to Gortash. Although I generally avoid foul language, there is
one option here that is clearly the best, and it will gain a lot of approval with Karlach,
assuming we haven’t maxed it out already. Ultimately, we will need to Dock at the Iron
Throne. This is an extremely cool encounter, but it also requires precise action and
efficiency in order to save everyone. As soon as we leave the Submersible, we will enter
turn-based mode and have a limited number of rounds to rescue the hostages. Because of
this, we should take a moment to prepare. First, we can enter turn-based mode and
cast twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc. We can then have everyone group up and throw
down a Potion of Flying for added mobility. We can also oil up Minsc’s sword, and use
Spirit Guardians on Jaheira at a high level. Finally, we can use Wholeness of Body on Karlach. Once ready, we can save the game, and open
the metal hatch, starting the encounter. The first round is crucial, we must
release all prisoners by the end of it, or else they probably won’t make
it back to the submersible in time. We will start with Minsc, our fighter. After
flying down the ladder, we can have him fly over to the nearby Sahuagin, and eliminate
it with a Manoeuvering Attack and pull the lever to open one of the cells. Before doing
anything else, we can have Jaheira, the Cleric, fly down the ladder. This will allow Minsc
to use his Forced Manoeuvre buff on her. We will get back to Jaheira in a moment, but for
now, we can go back to Minsc. With him, we will fly down the south corridor, using the Boots of
Speed to give us more movement if necessary. Our target is Santoria, and we will need to use our
second action to free her from her restraints. We should have enough flying movement to reach that
lever that will release Thindo from his cell. We can use whatever movement we have
remaining to fly west, intercepting another patrolling Sahuagin. If we fly over
at the right moment, we may even be able to reach it and dish out some damage. If not, we can
always shoot it with our bow a couple of times. Next up is Jaheira, our Cleric. We
can use a Potion of Speed on her, then begin flying east. Along the way, we
can pull the lever in the northeast corner of the central room. This will release Flansy
from her cell. We will need to dash at least once on Jaheira in order to reach all the
prison cells at the end of the east hall, which is our first priority. We can also damage
the Sahuagan with Spirit Guardians along the way. We can start by releasing Duke
Ravenguard from the central cell. We will then need to release both Deedle
and Marlono from the southeast cell. We will come back to Jaheira
in a moment, but for now, we can switch over to our MC sorcerer. In
order to give them a little more mobility, we can have Karlach throw a
potion of speed near their feet. With our sorcerer, we will
be flying down the ladder, then down the west hall. We want to time
our entry into the west room so that the two Sahuagan there are in close proximity.
We can dash and fly between the two to deal extra damage with our Chain Lightning,
hopefully finishing both of them off. Don’t worry if one happens to survive the
blast, we should be able to clean everything up on Karlach our Monk. For now, we will want to
use Dash, and our Tempestuous Magic: Flight to release the half-dozen prisoners from the two
large cells in this west chamber. Sometimes, the flight path can be blocked off
when a door opens, if that happens, just move a short distance away from the
door, then try to fly again, it should work. We will now take control of Karlach. While
flight is the most efficient mode of travel for most characters, Karlach, especially
if we have 9 levels in monk, can travel a lot further by using Step of the Wind: Dash, and
then jumping around. So that is what we will do. She is going to be on clean-up duty,
going around and eliminating any remaining threats in the turn order. We will start by
jumping our way down the hall to the west, if necessary, to eliminate
any remaining Sahuagan there. We will then want to jump our way down the east
hallway, and clean up the Sahuagan threatening Jaheira and Duke Ravengard. Try to keep a
bonus action or action available during this, as we may need it to reach our final
destination. If we run out of attacks, we can try to get a free hit by provoking an
opportunity attack. If the Sahuagin misses, we can react with a Greater Kushigo Counter. Once those threats are taken care of, we can jump
our way back to the center room, then start moving south towards Minsc. We will most likely require
Cunning Action: Dash in order to reach Minsc, where we can help clean up the Sahuagin
Champion if we failed to defeat it on Minsc. We can then move further southwest and pull
a lever to open the nearby door. We will find Omeluum bound in this room. Even if we don’t have
an action to free them this round, we should be able to free them at the start of the next round,
and that will work out fine. That being said, if you have the action to spend, go ahead and
save, then free Omeluum. If you still have an attack at that point, use it to throw a Potion
of Flying near Omeluum’s feet. We can also have Omeluum use a potion of Speed on their turn, but
I recommend not moving Omeluum at this point, as they may need to help some Gondians’
escape. We won’t know which ones need that help until they are given a chance to run.
Hopefully everything runs smoothly in your game, so you don’t have to worry as much about all of
this. But as you will see, I was not so fortunate. Switching back to Jaheira, we want to make sure
she is placed at the center of the East chamber, about 30 feet west of the entrance to
Duke Ravengard’s cell. If we still have an action on her, we can save it
until after moving Duke Ravengard. We should have control of Duke Ravengard
at this point. Before doing anything, we will want to use a potion of Supreme
Healing to get his health back. We can use dash on him and direct him to move to
a position on the west side of Jaheira. A cutscene will trigger before Ravengard gets
very far, and this will incapacitate Ravengard. If we still have control of Jaheira at this
point, and if she has her action available, we can help Ravengard up. We can then have Ravengard
move towards the Submersible, just make sure he doesn’t block any doorways or other bottlenecks,
which would prevent the Gondians from escaping. After making sure Jaheira damages all the spiders
with her spirit guardians, she can run a short distance towards Ravengard, so the surviving
spiders are no longer within range of the Spirit Guardians. On their turn, the spiders should run
into the guardians, which will finish them off. Assuming everything went well
and all the prisoners are free, we can save the game and end everyone’s turn. Now, if for whatever reason some of the Gondians
just don’t move towards the exit or get stuck, like shown here. We are going to need to do
some major work on Omeluum and perhaps Minsc, our fighter, in order to make
sure they successfully escape. Once we’ve identified which Gondians (if any) are
stuck or having trouble escaping (in my case it is Phoenix’s group in the western chamber) we can
revert back to the save before ending our turn, and have Omeluum go help them. Fortunately, I was
able to reach my group of straggling Gondians with the combination of a Potion of Speed, Potion of
Flying, and Omeluum’s Levitate Ability. Then, using the Teleport to Submersible ability,
I was able to get the first of the Gondians, Phoenix, instantly teleported to the Submersible.
I then used the remainder of Omeluum’s movement to fly back towards that group of Gondians.
This is still technically the first turn, and just like before, I saved the
game, then ended everyones’ turn. At the start of the next round, we will need
to free Omeluum if we haven’t already. Minsc needs to stay in this general area to deal with
additional threats as they emerge. Meanwhile, Karlach is going to be our character to go
around looting this facility. Because of that, we will have Minsc fly over and free Omeluum
if needed. If we have enough to spare, we can even throw a Potion of Speed and
Potion of Flying on Omeluum to boost his mobility. We can then have Minsc fly back to
the main southern chamber to stand sentry. Jaheira’s job is pretty much done, and we can
have her fly back to the Submersible. The same goes for our Sorcerer. That being said, if
we have scrolls of Dimension Door available, we could have our Cleric and Sorcerer make
use of those to help the problematic or otherwise straggling Gondians escape
in time. However, I would only do this in extreme circumstances as it might cause
more hiccups for the other escaping Gondians. For Karlach, we can start by using
Step of the Wind Dash. If we want, we can grab the Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen from
the table near Omeluum, along with his belongings from the nearby Backpack, then begin jumping our
way back to the central chamber of the facility. From there, we can hop on down the north passage, where we will run into 3 more Sahuagan. By
making use of Flurry of Blows and Greater Kushigo Counters, we should have no
problem dispatching these enemies. You may also notice the body
of a man named Prinski, and he carries an interesting missive from Gortash. In any case, by the time we run
out of movement and actions, we should be set up to loot the corridor
to the west, which we will do next turn. For Ravengard, we can begin jumping and dashing
our way towards the Submersible. We will just want to be sure that he does not block the path of any
other prisoners, as it can cause them to bug out. On Omeluum, we can teleport another
straggling Gondian to the Submersible, then use the rest of our movement to fly back
to the next straggling Gondian if there are any left. It is not always clear which prisoners
we should prioritize to warp to the Submersible, but I would focus on those that are blocking
either the central ladder’s entrance or exit, as this can cause the other prisoners to bug out. Once again, we can save the
game and end everyones’ turn. Over the remainder of this round, more Suhaugan will begin emerging from
the bubbles in the southern area. Minsc should have no trouble eliminating all
of them at the start of the next round, at which point there will be 3 turns remaining,
and we can then have him return to his post. On Karlach, we can have her move
throughout the northwest hall, pulling levers to open and explore the 2 chambers
along the way. The first will contain an opulent chest with some valuable items. The second,
larger chamber will have an opulent chest that contains the Counting House Vault 6 Key.
There is also a unique note on the ground. Once we’ve looted everything, we can
fly south, using dash if necessary, and pull a lever to open a path into
the main southern chamber. From there, we can fly back to the central chamber,
where we can board the Submersible. Likewise, we should be able to reach and
board the submersible on Duke Ravengard, so long as we are making
use of both dash and jump. Once again, we can have Omeluum teleport a
prisoner to the Submersible. Preferably one that is blocking the path of others
or that is otherwise lagging behind. At this point, most of the prisoners
should either be In the submersible, or be very close to it. If that is the case,
we can have Omeluum stay in the submersible too. In addition, we will want to make sure
that anyone with a Potion of Speed active, such as our Sorcerer, boards the
Submersible before it wears off. As the round passes, more Sahuagan will
emerge, and we can have Minsc cut them down before heading back towards
the submersible. At this point, there are only 2 turns remaining
until the facility collapses. We will want to keep Minsc out of the
Submersible until those final prisoners board, which likely won’t be until next round. If
it appears that some prisoners won’t make it in time, we can try to throw them
at the ladders to hurry them along, although this might backfire and
cause them to be knocked prone. Reaching the last round, we will need to
bring any remaining characters we have control of back to the Submersible.
We can then have one interact with the Control Wheel to skip the rest of
the round and leave the Iron Throne. However, if there is a prisoner that still needs
to board the submersible, and they have yet to take their turn, we can actually just end our
turn and let the rest of the round play out. As long as everyone is in the submersible by the end
of the last round, we will all make it out safe. Hopefully this was thorough enough so that
anyone watching will be able to rescue everyone, despite any potential hiccups. That being said, if you are having any issues you can
always reach out to me in the comments. While we won’t get an achievement
for this tremendous feat, the narrator and various characters
will acknowledge our impeccable success. Before docking, Duke Ravengard will
speak with us and join our camp. We will also secure him as an
ally against the Absolute. Minsc should also get the
Against All Odds inspiration, as a result of our flawless victory. We can
speak with Obelia Toobin before leaving the submersible, and let her know that
it was her Father that sent us. Upon leaving the Submersible, we will be
confronted by Allandra Grey. We can tell her that the Iron Throne is gone because of us. We
will be rewarded with the Wavemother’s Robe, which looks pretty nice and has a pretty useful effect
for healing without any potions. We can also speak with the Gondians if we want before leaving, and
they will offer up words of praise and gratitude. It probably is not necessary, but to give
ourselves the best chance of saving all the Gondians from the Steel Watch Foundry, we
will probably want to visit the House of Hope to restore all of our resources. We will also
want a Potion of Flying and Potion of Speed. Once we are ready, we can fast travel to
the Grey Harbour Docks. Before going into the foundry, we will probably want
to defeat the Steel Watcher outside, so that it doesn’t kill any
Gondians later on. Just make sure to step away from the Watcher once
its self-destruct sequence is initiated. Next, we will move west into the Foundry. We can go ahead and cast Haste on Minsc before
the start of this first encounter. Twinned Haste most likely won’t be necessary, and we want to
save Sorcery Points. We can also cast Spirit Guardians at a high level on Jaheira. We can then
fully enter the Foundry to start the encounter. To start the combat, Jaheira can
dash in and deal some area damage, as well as apply debuffs. Next, Karlach can
go in and make use of her Kushigo Counter, along with her two bonus actions to dish out a
total of 6 attacks without haste or any ki points. Finally, we can clean up any enemies on
their last few HP with a magic missile. We probably won’t eliminate all of the enemies, but as long as we leave 3 or less standing, all
of the Gondians should survive the encounter. Whenever a Black Gauntlet enemy is defeated, they
will drop a Motivator. These must be deactivated within the next 2 rounds or else they will set
off the bomb collars, killing all of the Gondians. Deactivating a Motivator takes one whole action,
and we will need to pass a DC 5 intelligence check to deactivate the first one. I recommend saving
beforehand, just in case of really bad luck. So long as we manage to deactivate
the two Motivators before they go off, the rest of this encounter
should go smoothly enough. Afterwards, we can speak with Toobin,
inform him that we got everyone out of the Iron Throne, and recruit
him to go destroy the Foundry. Before leaving this area, we can gather the
required components to make the Hellfire Engine Crossbow, and we can hide to make sure we are not
detected by the patrolling Steel Watcher outside. First, we’ll need to move south to find the Steel
Watcher Arm. We can then go west down the line to find the Targeting Module. Next, we will head
northwest to the security office, and pick up the Watcher Crossbow Blueprint from the table in the
southwest corner. With these three components in hand, we’ll go to the crafting Table, beside the
northwest staircase in the security office. There, we can put them all together to craft
the very rare Hellfire Engine Crossbow. Next, we will want to prepare for a very
difficult challenge before entering the lower level of the Foundry from the
security office. First of all, we can go ahead and convert most or all of our
level 4 spell slots into Sorcery Points so that we don’t run out mid fight, and
we will want around 24 points in total. We can then enter turn-based mode and cast
twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc. Jaheira can use Spirit Guardians at a high
level, and we can group everyone up, then throw down a potion of flying to give extra
mobility. Minsc can also use his Giant Form, and oil his weapon for added damage. We
can also throw down a Potion of Speed on both Jaheira and our MC. We can also use
an Elixir of Vigilance on our Sorcerer, assuming one is available, and this will ensure
that they get to go first in combat. Finally, we can use Wholeness of Body on Karlach, save the
game, then enter the lower level of the foundry. To start things off, we can have our Sorcerer fly
between the two clusters of enemies to the east, and hit each with Twinned Chain Lightning.
We can make use of the Kereska’s Lightning Buff and Arcane Battery Passive to do this
twice over without using any spell slots, and this should eliminate most of these enemies.
We can then fly over to the northwest and use quickened spell to cast Chain Lightning as a
bonus action, using our level 6 spell slot. Next, Karlach can move in on one of the
two Hellfire Watchers to the east. We should prioritize whichever one will take its turn
before Minsc, if that is indeed the case. For the one that is close to a Gondian, we can use Flurry
of Blows: Push, to push it away from the Gondian, which will keep them from being caught in the
Self Destruct blastwave. If we absolutely need to, we can have Karlach throw an endangered Gondian
to safety, even if this will hurt them a bit. Once the two watchers are dealt with,
we can clean up any remaining enemies, and if we have an action to spare, we
can deactivate the Motivator over here. Assuming all the threats to the east are
eliminated, Minsc and Jaheira can easily mop up the remaining enemies to the north,
and deactivate the two Motivators. It should be okay if we can’t get both motivators on
this first round, as they should not trigger until the end of the next round, by which
point, we will easily have things in hand. After the fight, we can loot up, and we will want to grab the Control Level
Key off of Black Gauntlet Hahns. There are some interesting and morbid experiments to
check out near the east edge of this area. Ultimately, we will need to go through the
northern door, to the Control Centre. As we move forward here, Zanner Toobin
will speak with us. Before going on, we can do some pointless and very high
DC skill challenges here if we want. To increase our chances of success, we can equip
the Silver Pendant to someone other than our Cleric. The skill challenges are triggered
by interacting with 3 specific brain jars. The two lower brains on the north side,
and the one upper brain on the south side. Interacting with the brain will play out a
scenario involving a Steel Watcher. We can stop the Watcher with either an easy Illithid Wisdom
check, or a much more difficult basic Wisdom check. Using both Guidance and Owl’s Wisdom will
increase our odds of success, but they are pretty low either way. Besides the resulting dialogue, I
don’t think success or failure here really impacts the game in any significant way. Because of that,
it’s hard to justify using inspiration points here, especially when we will soon be having a
much more important and more difficult skill check in the near future. We will, however, be getting
3 points of inspiration in the immediate future, so if we already have the maximum of 4
saved up, we might as well use 2 or 3 here. In any case, once we are ready, we can
cast twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc, then move east into the next room. It
is here that we will need to face off with the Steel Watcher Titan. I like to open
with a Lightning Bolt and Quickened Lightning bolt if possible. These should hit both the
Titan and the Hellfire Watcher behind it. We can then have Jaheira move in and
blast both with a Destructive Wave, and at that point Minsc should
be able to finish off the Titan. Karlach can start taking down the other Hellfire
Watchers at this point, and overall this encounter is not too bad, especially since we don’t
have any innocent bystanders to worry about. After combat, we can loot the Titan to get
a Legendary Bow, Gontr Mael. This bow can be used to cast a special form of Haste once per long
rest. It only lasts for 5 turns, but does not stun the affected character when it wears off. Overall,
it is a great endgame item for Minsc, our fighter. We can take a look around if we want, there is an
Automaton Component that says we can extract it, but if I am being honest, I have no clue what
its purpose is and have not found any good info online. In any case, we will eventually
want to move east to speak with Zanner Toobin. Once we give the word, Zanner will
bring down the Steel Watch Foundry, ending the threat of the Steel Watchers. After our escape, we will be immediately
confronted by Wulbren and the Ironhand Gnomes. In order to gain two allies here,
we will need to say “Toobin is right. It’s over.” followed by a special Persuasion check
“Perhaps the Ironhand Gnomes need a new leader…” Assuming we succeed on that check, we
can speak with both Barcus and Toobin after the confrontation. Because of our
success in brokering peace between the Gondians and Ironhand Gnomes, both are now
amongst our allies against the Absolute. Before moving on, we can go check in on Omeluum
at the Society of Brilliance Lodge. Unfortunately, they will not join us as allies in the
fight against the Absolute. They will, however, give us some valuables as a reward
for our efforts, although nothing unique. While here, we can complete a small side quest
for Jaheira. A short distance southwest of the Baldur’s Gate Waypoint, we will find a girl
training with a sword near her home’s entrance. We can approach her to trigger a unique
interaction with Minsc and Jaheira. We can then head into the home where we will
have more interesting conversations with Jaheira. If we say “Not in this lifetime.”
We will get approval from Minsc. Afterwards, we can head upstairs and speak
with Tate to get a Harper Pin. If we take it downstairs, we can then insert
it in the Pin Slot within Jaheira’s Study. This will open a secret passage to Jaheira’s
basement. We will want to remove the wooden box from the pressure plate to avoid getting
hurt by the traps, then make our way southwest. Within the house there is a key
hidden in some loose floor planks, which are also trapped. We can take
it and use it to open the bookcase. Jaheira will try to dissuade us,
but Minsc will insist otherwise. In this compartment we will find
the Rite of the Timeless Body, which we can read and pick up to open up
some new dialogue options with Jaheira. In the display case is Khalid’s
Gift, a very rare magic necklace. Within the opulent chest are Jaheira’s old
weapons, Belm and the Staff of the Ram. We can speak with Jaheira and ask
about the strange scroll. If her approval with us is high enough,
and at this point it should be, she will actually go into detail about the
ritual. At least in the game’s current state, there does not seem to be a way of
convincing her to undergo the ritual. Next, we will set ourselves up to
get the “Mind Blown” achievement, and we can get a couple other
achievements in the process. To do it, we should make sure that we
have a few alcoholic beverages on hand, we can then make our way west of the Basilisk Gate
Waypoint to Elfsong Tavern. Within the Kitchen, there is a staircase leading
down to the Basement. There, we’ll need to exterminate around 36 rats, and
we can get two achievements very easily here. To get the “Punch Drunk” achievement, we need a
character that has the Alcohol condition active to defeat 20 of these rats. I am not sure
if this requires using melee attacks to get, but an easy way to test it is to save, then
have Jaheira drink an Alcoholic drink and blast away the rats with Radiance of the Dawn.
If defeating 20 rats this way doesn’t unlock the “Punch Drunk” achievement, we may just need
to get it with a melee character instead. Now, to get the Kill Two Birds with One Stone
achievement, we will also want Karlach to use the “Improvised Melee Weapon” action,
then grab one rat and hit another with it. Any character that is not under the effects
of Alcohol should not defeat any rats, as I am fairly certain that it won’t count
towards the “Punch Drunk” achievement. The chef upstairs will give us a small
monetary reward for exterminating the rats, however, the more important thing for us
to do in the wine cellar is go through the door on the northwest corner.
There, we’ll find a button to click, which will open a passage to The Emperor’s old
hideout, which we can circle around to reach. Before entering, we can cast Twinned Haste on
Karlach and Minsc, then hide. Upon entering the hideout, we can enter turn-based mode, then
sneak up on and gain surprise on the Githyanki. This encounter is fairly easy, so long as we defeat the two Gate
Masters before reinforcements arrive. The Leader Paladin of Vlaakith will drop
the Boots of Psionic Movement when defeated. After the fight, we can move to the north
side of the room, and interact with the button behind the statue. This will open
another secret passage that we can enter. There, we will find several of The Emperor's
personal effects. His sword is resting on a weapons rack, and in the wardrobe to the east
we’ll find his Cerebral Citadel Armour and Gloves, there’s also a unique shell on the shelf nearby.
In the northeast is a portrait of Duke Stelmane. To the northwest are some prisoner chains and
empty brain jars, and to the southwest a recipe for fiddlehead soup. Finally, through the doors
to the west, we’ll find a hatch that leads down to the sewers, there, we can read a Patient Log
for Duke Stelmane that is pretty interesting. Feel free to explore the area of
the sewers beyond the locked doors. Before continuing, we will
want to have at least one, but preferably two potions of flying.
Once we are ready, we can return to the House of Hope. The time has finally
arrived for us to steal the Orphic Hammer. Within the House of Hope, we should quickly go use
the Restoration Faucet, then make our way over to Raphael’s Archive. If we haven’t already done so,
we will need to read Raphael’s Notes, we can then interact with the Orphic Hammer, speak the magic
words to lower its defenses, then pick it up. As we go to leave the Archive, Hope will ask us to free her from her
prison, which we should agree to do. Before leaving the Archive, we can prepare by
casting Twinned Haste on Karlach and Minsc, and have Jaheira cast Haste on our Sorcerer.
We do not want to use Radiant Damage within the House of Hope, as all enemies here
have the Fleeting Protection trait, which will deal two-fold damage back
to anyone that deals radiant damage. To start, Karlach and Minsc can team up and tackle
the Hell Sphere, and feel free to pull out all the stops here as we have the Restoration Faucets to
use after the fact. Before defeating all of these initial enemies, we can have some characters
run ahead to the northeast to get more enemies in the turn-order. This will keep us in turn-based
mode and help prevent Haste from running out while there are still enemies up ahead to deal with.
It’s not a huge deal if we exit turn-based mode or anything, I just find that this strategy helps
keep things running smoothly and efficiently. As we pass the Boudoir, another Hell Sphere will
appear, and we should prioritize hacking it down. Before going to free Hope from the prison, we can
clear out the group of enemies that are near the entrance portal. My favorite method of doing
this is a couple of twinned chain lightnings. Once all the enemies on this floor have been
defeated, we can go use the restoration faucets once more, then go through the prison hatchway,
which is located in the south corner of the house. After entering, we can say
“Let’s do this.” to Hope, then prepare for combat. The encounter will
require us to cross over several gaps. It is because of that reason that I recommend
grouping everyone up so we can throw a potion of flying on everyone, in addition to
casting twinned haste on Karlach and Minsc. Once ready, we can click the button to open the
door, then head inside. The encounter will start when we approach Hope. The biggest threats in
this encounter are actually the Vengeful Imps. If we allow them to act, they can use forceful
eldritch blast to send us off the edge of the map, resulting in instant death and loss of
all our nice buffs. Because of this, I always like to open up combat with
a well-placed twinned chain lightning. Karlach and Minsc can each take on a
Spectator, eliminating them within a single turn. The Spectator to the
north drops the Burnished Ring. After combat, we can equip
the Orphic Hammer on Karlach, then break the chains binding Hope. Minsc
will approve of this, and after reassuring that Hope is not physically disfigured,
we can all head out of the Prison. There is a really tough Speech
check coming up, so to help with it, we can equip the Ring of Geniality on
our MC and Envoy’s Amulet on Minsc. One last time, we can go use the Restoration
Faucet, then make our way back to the entrance portal. Raphael shouldn’t show up until
after interacting with the portal, but I like to save often just in case. The
dialogue will involve everyone so we can do all of our preparation before interacting
with the portal and not worry about rushing. If we haven’t already, we can
convert basically all of our 4th and 5th level spells into Sorcery
Points. We will also want to make sure Karlach’s passive damage buff is
set to Psychic, and not Radiant. We can then enter turn-based mode, and we are
going to set ourselves up for major success. To keep Hope safe, we’ll have
her cast Guidance on our MC, then go stand in the corner of the room.
Jaheira, our Cleric, can cast Enhance Ability: Eagle’s Splendour on our MC. After
casting Twinned Haste on both Karlach and our MC, Minsc can use Celestial Haste on
himself, and his Giant Form if it’s available, and use weapon oil if one is available. If we
want added mobility, the whole group can get together and Karlach can throw a potion of
flying at the center. Karlach can also cast Haste on Jaheira with the Darkfire Bow, if it’s
available, although this is not super important. We will then want to pass one round as
Minsc still needs to do some stuff that requires actions. The next round, Minsc
can use Voice of the Circle on our MC, then re-equip his Broodmother’s Revenge Amulet.
We can also have Karlach use Wholeness of Body. Finally, we can save the game, then interact
with the portal on our MC. We can try to turn Korilla against Raphael, but she will
stay loyal to Raphael. That being said, we can sway Yurgir to our side in the fight,
and it is definitely worth doing. This will require succeeding on a Persuasion
Check with a DC of 30. That being said, we set ourselves up so that
we have the highest chance of success, and that makes it not-so-unlikely.
However, save-scumming may still be required. Regardless of what we choose at
this point, a fight is inevitable. Hopefully we are able to act on Karlach or,
better yet, Minsc, before Yurgir takes his turn. There is actually something pretty cool we
can do, although it is totally optional. If we make the right moves, we can save Korilla
from dying, which will make Hope happy. To do this, we can have Minsc or Karlach
fly over to Korilla. We will need to throw her towards the north exit of the
room. This is going to hurt her, so much so that we may need to throw a
healing potion on her half way through the process. Once Korilla has been successfully
ejected from the room, and in living condition, we can toggle on non-lethal and knock her out
to prevent her from running back into danger. We will then want to return to the room and close
the door behind us. This should prevent Yurgir from attacking her, which he loves to do for some
reason. At this point, if we are out of actions on Karlach, or if we haven’t made any attacks with
her, we can provoke an attack of opportunity from a Cambion to try and trigger a Greater Kushigo
Counter. Unless they patch it, this should get us an additional attack, and we can use Stunning
Strikes on Raphael. If we have any remaining bonus actions, we can use Flurry of Blows:
Topple on Raphael to try and knock him prone. Assuming everything has gone well, we can turn off non-lethal damage and this
is probably a good point to save at as well. On our MC, we can wreak havoc
with three chain lightnings, two of them twinned, and a third quickened. Minsc will then be free to move in and basically
finish off Raphael before he gets a chance to act. I recommend using manoeuvres to maximize
damage, along with Action Surge for 3 Extra attacks if needed. Once Raphael is defeated we
can start cleaning up the remaining enemies, but I recommend leaving one alive
until Hope gets to take her turn. On her turn, Hope can use Divine Intervention:
Opulent Revival. This will basically give a long rest to everyone that is within
range. At the start of the next round, we should be able to finish off the remaining
enemies without expending any resources. After the fight, we can speak with Hope and
she will show gratitude for sparing her sister, Korilla. To avoid disapproval
from any of our companions, we can say “I hope the two of you can reconcile.”
Regardless of what we say, Hope will not join us. As a reward for our efforts, we will be
given the Legendary Gloves of Soul Catching, and these are the best gloves for a Monk. We should also take a moment to speak
with Yurgir. If we say “I have my own frontline to return to…” then Yurgir will
join us as an Ally against the Absolute. We can grab the Legendary Helldusk Armor
off of Raphael. This heavy armor can be worn by any character, regardless
of armor proficiency. It is the ideal armor for a spellcaster, and
will remove the need for Mage Armor. Also, we will want to put our
regular camp clothes back on, now that the Debtor Attire is no longer needed. Finally, the Restoration Faucets within
the Boudoir will no longer be usable, fortunately, we only have one major battle
left before taking a whole lot of Long Rests. Upon leaving the House of Hope, The
Emperor will confront us about our decision to steal the Orphic Hammer.
To keep things as cordial as possible, we can say “Orpheus should not be
dominated.” followed by “Be that as it may, Orpheus deserves to be free.” followed
by “All right. You’ve made your point.” With the Orphic Hammer in hand, we can
toggle off Jaheira’s Sunlight Passive, fast travel to the City Sewers Waypoint,
then move north. We should eventually reach a locked door to the east. Beyond it, we’ll
find Kith’rak Voss and an individual named Qudenos. If we succeed on an Insight check,
we will discover Qudenos’s true identity. We can then speak with Voss and inform him of our success in retrieving the Hammer. The
Emperor will dissent to freeing Orpheus, and we can argue with him more about
it, but he will not change his mind. If we haven’t already gotten it in Act
1, Voss will reward us with the Legendary Silver Sword of the Astral Plane. At this
time, we can speak with Lae’zel about it, without worrying about spoilers
or out-of-context dialogue. With that, we can fast travel to the South Span
of Wyrm’s Crossing waypoint, then move north towards Wyrm’s Rock. The bridge will no longer be
accessible, but we can sneak into the stronghold. We’ll go northeast to the ledge, and use
our featherfall boots to safely jump to the rocky exterior of the fortress.
We will want to move west at first, then north around the fortress. This should take
us to a ladder that leads to some knotted roots, that leads to the back side of the Audience Hall. From there, we’ll need to make our way up to
Gortash’s chambers. We can unlock the door, then group up and throw a potion of invisibility down at the center of the group if we
want to more easily avoid an encounter, then sneak our way north to a set of
stairs that will take us to the rooftop. We can then take a short walk to reach Gortash’s
Chambers. With that, we’ll save, then approach Gortash. In the conversation that follows,
we will side with Karlach against Gortash. At the start of Combat we can go ahead and cast
Twinned Haste on Karlach and Minsc. If we want, we can also use a Potion of Speed to
get off a Twinned Chain Lightning on the enemies in the chamber. At that point,
it should be pretty easy to stun and knock Gortash prone. Overall this is a relatively easy
fight, now that the Steel Watchers are gone. Once combat has ended, we can speak briefly with
Karlach, then loot Gortash to trigger a major story moment for her. Regardless of what we do,
Karlach will leave the party and return to camp. After that, we can actually loot Gortash and take
his various items, including the Netherstone. This will trigger another dialogue encounter and we
can eventually say “I’m not ready.” Once again, despite what we are told, there is no timer
on when we have to confront the Elder Brain. Before leaving, we can cast
Speak with Dead on Gortash, which I highly recommend doing. It
isn’t necessary, but it is interesting. Returning to camp, we can speak
with Karlach. After reconciling, she will happily rejoin the party. While there, we can speak with Wyll, and
his dialogue starts becoming a little inconsistent here, at least at the time
of making this video. In addition to that, we can speak with Duke Ravengard, and reveal
the truth behind Wyll’s pact with Mizora, gaining approval from Wyll. We can
also inform Ravengard of Ansur’s fate. At this point, we will cover
the remaining unique Long Rests and achievements to check off before
embarking on our final quest. Personally, I like to do these Long Rests in the Lower City,
so that they take place in the Elfsong Tavern. In fact, I will be heading to the
Elfsong Tavern for a specific vendor that can help us unlock an achievement.
Upon our arrival at the Basilisk Gate, an encounter will start with three
Mind Flayers, which should be fairly easy to deal with at this point. We can
then move west to the Elfsong Tavern. If we don’t already have the
“Bottoms Up” achievement, we will want to speak with Alan the Barman and
purchase enough alcohol from him to supply a full Long Rest. That is 80 camp supplies in
total and Alan should have more than enough. In addition, we will want to go around the lower
city, and potentially Wyrm’s Crossing, performing music for as many NPCs as possible. We just need
to play until the performance check is triggered. Successful performance checks will get the NPCs
to toss us gold coins, and once we’ve earned 100 gold this way, we will unlock the “Busker”
Achievement. It is a pretty tedious achievement to get, and for that reason, not many people have
unlocked it. Once an NPC has watched us perform, they will not be interested in encores. That
being said, all NPCs reset after a long rest, and can be tapped again for more gold. This can
also be made easier by recruiting a full bard hireling through Withers, and giving them the
Performer Feat. Wyrm’s Crossing is definitely the best place to earn this achievement, due
to the abundance and density of city folk. Finally, before getting into Long Rests, we will
want as many Potions of Flying, Potions of Speed, and Potions of Supreme Healing before we take on
our final mission. In addition, we will also want at least 5 Elixirs of Cloud Giant Strength, and 4
Battlemage Elixirs. To that end, we can visit the various shops that often sell those items,
which were covered early on in this video. With that, we can take the
first of our final Long Rests. It will start with an argument between
Jaheira and Minsc. Succeeding on a skill check here will help the conversation
reach a more amicable conclusion. After that, we can speak with
Astatrion about Cazador’s downfall, and I don’t think there
are any wrong choices here. Remember, we want to use all alcoholic
beverages to take at least one Complete Long Rest. You can double check if a
drink is alcoholic by looking for the Alcohol indicator in its tooltip. Doing this
will give us the “Bottoms Up” achievement. It seems fitting that we do that for this
Long Rest, given what this night has in store. After going to sleep, a peaceful encounter will
begin with The Emperor. I recommend saving before making any dialogue choices. In order to get
an achievement, we will need to say “You really don’t sound like a mind flayer.” followed by
“And what did you learn?” then “True.” Finally, we will then need to “Lean in towards it.” We must
go through with this romance for the achievement, and I am not sure if it is required
that the Emperor remain a Mind Flayer, or if they can take on their
Dream Visitor form instead. Regardless of which way we go with
it, the next morning will turn out the same. At the start of the next day, we
should unlock the “Mind Blown” achievement, along with the “Bottoms Up” achievement if we used
nothing but alcoholic drinks for the long rest. In any case, I would strongly
recommend reverting back to the start of the encounter with the Emperor, as
it can go a completely different direction. To start, we can say “You do a great
impression of a human. But you’re not fooling me.” followed by “You’re
an expert at mental manipulation…”
We can play the rest of this
interaction however we want. The next morning, we can speak with Aylin and
Isobel. After confirming their alliance with us, they will leave the camp to
take care of other matters. We should do more musical
performances if we haven’t gotten the “Busker” achievement
yet. Then take our next long rest. At our next Long Rest, Mizora
will have some new dialogue, though I don’t think there are any
important decisions to make here. Upon going to bed, we will have
one of Shadowheart’s final story moments. This event may be different
depending on whether Shadowheart’s parents were saved. The next morning, if
Shadowheart’s parents are still alive, we can speak to Arnell as Shadowheart
to learn more about her past. That will do it for unique Long Rests,
but take as many more as you need to complete the “Busker” achievement, and to
stock up on supplies for the final quest. Now let’s cover remaining
miscellaneous achievements that we can get before completing the game. First is Escapologist. This one is easy to
get. We will start by committing a crime, such as assaulting a guard on our Sorcerer. We
will allow ourselves to be taken to prison. We can then use Greater Invisibility, hide, and enter
turn-based mode when the guards walk away. We can Misty Step to a spot outside of our cell that is
not being monitored, then turn ourselves invisible once more if necessary. After grabbing our items
from the Inventory Chest, we can exit Turn-based mode and make a break for the Prison Entrance.
This should unlock the “Escapologist” achievement, and once we are free, we can go to camp and
wait for the Fugitive Condition to wear off. We probably already have these other achievements, but let’s check just in case. The first is
“Homebrewer”. It requires us to create three unique consumables in a single playthrough,
which can be done through the Alchemy system. Next is “Bookworm”. This achievement requires us to read 100 unique books or pieces
of text in a single playthrough. Then there is “Dig for Victory”, unlocked by digging up five buried
chests in a single playthrough. Finally, we have the “Roleplayer” achievement, which is unlocked by completing 10 background
goals in a single playthrough. Completing background goals is what gives us points
of inspiration, and we’ve gotten tons. One last note, there are plenty of optional side
quests and encounters that we can seek out and complete in both Rivington and the Lower City. I
encourage everyone to take the time to explore and make the most of their playthrough before going
to complete the final quest. That being said, none of those remaining side quests and activities
are necessary for getting all achievements, and will not get us more Allies or
(in my opinion) worthwhile loot. Prominent side quests that come to mind
are the Felogyr’s Fireworks conspiracy, which can be started in the basement of Alfur’s
Mansion, near the Rivington Waypoint (be sure to watch out for traps down there). Then there
is the Baldur’s Mouth Gazette smear campaign, which we can thwart by sneaking into the Basement
of the printing press, just southwest of the Basilisk Gate Waypoint. Araj Oblodra also has an
intriguing offer for us, southwest of the Lower City Central Wall Waypoint. Finally, there is our
friend Oskar the Artist, to catch up with him, we will need to venture into Jannath’s Estate,
which is southwest of the Baldur’s Gate waypoint. I am going to quickly cover the Free the
Artist quest as it is pretty annoying and slightly confusing. The key item
we need is the Torch of Revocation, which can be found in a locked
chest, within Philgrave’s Mansion, near the Heapside Strand Waypoint. Once we’ve
gotten that, we can go to Lady Jannath’s Estate. First, we will just need to get to Oskar and Lady
Jannath on the second floor. There are invisible Poltergeists that we can easily reveal if we
have Volo’s Ersatz Eye, or with Radiance of the Dawn from Jaheira. Once those are all defeated, we
can make our way to the top floor of the estate, defeating more poltergeists and destroying
cursed objects and skulls along the way. On the top floor, we will need to lockpick a faux
wall to access a hidden room. Here, we will need to equip the Torch of Revocation, then interact
with the cursed portrait. A spirit should appear, in search of Oskar. We can then return
to Oskar and Jannath, resolving the confrontation diplomatically. Afterwards, we can
follow Oskar back up to the top room and he will paint a portrait for us and any of our companions.
Unfortunately, the portrait seems to be bugged and all mine shows is Jaheira, regardless of
who it is painted for. That being said, each painting is worth 750 gold pieces. To the best of
my knowledge, that is all there is to this quest. Something else to consider before
proceeding is that all companions will appear in the final cinematic of the game,
so if you want to outfit them in fancy armor, be sure to do so before going to
face the absolute. In addition, this is our last chance to talk with
our companions about various subjects. Once we are ready to face the Absolute, we can
take a full long rest to restore our resources, then do a modified preparation for the day.
I would recommend using only consumables for this preparation, and if you only
have one last Soul Coin, then save it for now. We also want to avoid using equipment
dependent abilities, such as Kereska’s Favor. In addition, there are a couple items we want to
make sure we bring along. We absolutely need the Orphic Hammer, along with the three Netherstones.
If we got them earlier and have not used them, we can also bring the two Runepowder Barrels
and the Runepowder Bomb. We also want all the Elixirs and potions we may need for our party.
I also highly recommend bringing a Potion of Animal Speaking, Potion of Mindreading, and
around 2000 gold. On the gear-side of things, we will want to bring the Drakethroat
Glaive and Silver Pendant. I will also show all the gear my party is
equipped with for this final stretch. Finally, bring along the companions that
you want to beat the game with. For me, that is going to be Minsc, Jaheira, and
Karlach. Both Minsc and Jaheira provide unique dialogue opportunities in the final quest,
and Karlach also provides a very unique choice. With that, we can fast travel to the Temple
of Bhaal Waypoint, then move north up the stairs. Near the top, we will head further north
through some ruins, towards the Morphic Pool Dock. We can make a final save for the Point of No
Return, then take the Skiff to the Morphic Pool. After arriving, we will want to head north through
the cavern. There is one ambush encounter that we can prepare for by casting twinned haste
on our heavy hitters, and overall it’s a fairly easy encounter. Again, we will want
to avoid using equipment-based abilities, and we will also want to avoid doing a
Short Rest after the combat encounter. Instead, we will continue moving north,
deeper into the cave system. If we want, we can speak to our companions for some unique
dialogue. We will want to take a moment to prepare when the Morphic Pool is in view. There
is a very difficult skill challenge ahead, but if we manage to succeed, it will make
the final battle significantly easier. To prepare for it, we can equip the
Amulet of Greater Health on our MC, and the Silver Pendant on Karlach. Our
Cleric can cast Heroes’ Feast for us. With that, we will save and move
towards the Morphic Pool slowly, making sure that our companions are all close
to us when the skill challenge is initiated. We will want to pick whichever skill we have the
best chance of succeeding with. For the first one, that should be Strength, and we can use an Elixir
of Cloud Giant Strength, Enhance Ability: Bull’s Strength, and Guidance from Karlach. If we want
any chance of succeeding on the final challenge, we have to get to it with as many Inspiration
points as we can manage. For the second check, we should go with Charisma, and it has a DC of
25, we can go ahead and use Enhance Ability: Eagle’s Splendour here. For the third
check, we can go with Strength again, and use Enhance Ability: Bull’s Strength
once more. The DC this time around is 30. For the fourth and final check, we will need to
roll a natural 20. Since we already have advantage in Strength, that is what we will go with. The
DC for this final check is 99, and a natural 20 will be necessary to succeed. This is where
we can go ahead and use all of our inspiration points in the hopes that we get lucky. We don’t
have to save scum here if we fail, it will just make the final fight a little bit easier if we do
succeed. Incredibly, I did not need to save scum a single time or use any points of inspiration on
my first attempt, talk about unbelievable luck. Even if we succeed on all checks, the immediate
outcome will be the same. After the dialogue that follows, we will have all of our resources
restored, and buffs reset. At this point, we can do a full preparation for the battle
ahead. Things I often forget to do are to give the Drakethroat Glaive buff to Minsc,
and to use Kereska’s Favour on my MC. I also often forget to put back on the appropriate
necklace for both my MC and Karlach. Also, if you have a Potion of Animal
Speaking, now is a good time to use it. We can then jump down towards the central
island, and this is also where we need to make a permanent save if we want to explore some
of the different possible endings to the game, and certain endings are also
required for certain achievements. Once ready, we can speak with the Emperor. Our
first major choice will be to either side with the Emperor, or free Orpheus. We can get all
achievements regardless of what we choose. Given that we went through all the
work to get the Orphic Hammer, and that Orpheus is a stronger ally overall,
we can say “There is another way - we will free Orpheus.” followed by “Enough. I
have the Hammer - I will free Orpheus!” Afterwards, we can equip the Orphic
Hammer to Karlach and break the chains binding Orpheus. He will be upset,
but should eventually see reason. We will then have 3 different options to choose.
First, if we ask if Orpheus is willing to become a mind flayer, he will acquiesce and go through
with it. The second option is if we say “I’m not becoming a mind flayer.” At that point,
Karlach will offer to become a mind flayer. Either of these choices will allow us to
get the same ending-related achievements, though Karlach turning into a mind flayer
significantly alters the ending to her story. Finally, we, the MC, can become a mind
flayer. This is the only way to get the “Ceremorphosis” achievement. This will also
cause some alterations in the game’s epilogue. It is not an easy decision, but if you’re asking
me, the happiest outcome (at least for our own character and Karlach) is to have Orpheus bite
the bullet and become a mind flayer. So, this is a good choice if we already have the “Ceremorphosis”
achievement. Otherwise, having our MC become a Mind Flayer is the path that will lead to the
greatest number of ending-related achievements. Once we’ve made our choice, we can go through
the portal to High Hall. Heading east, we’ll run into Voss. As long as we have Orpheus
with us, he will speak with Voss on our behalf. Because of this, Voss will become our ally
in the fight against the Absolute. We can then move further east into High Hall,
where all of our Allies will be waiting. After a roll call of sorts, we will have to
give some words of encouragement. Alternatively, we can allow either Minsc or Jaheira to
give a speech, which I find to be a lot more entertaining. Of the two, I tend
to prefer Minsc, but both are great. We can speak with Koll the Red
to buy any last minute supplies, including two Potions of Angelic
Slumber. It’s a good idea to buy these, as there are no restoration devices
here on Tactician difficulty. Just realized I forgot to cast Heroes’
Feast and a Fifth Level Aid spell, so let’s go ahead and take care of that right now. We can then get those spells back with an
Angelic Slumber Potion if we have a lot. Once we are ready, we’ll move out the east
exit, then head north to the staircase and up to the battlefield. As we approach,
a cutscene will trigger. If we succeed on a passive perception check, we will
have the opportunity to convince some extra guards to join us in the fight, but
they honestly don’t help all that much. Before continuing, we can
prepare for the fight ahead. There are two ways to approach this. The first
is sort of a cheese method that allows us to completely bypass the encounter. The second
is to actually engage with the enemies. Let’s start with the cheese method for
those trying to get multiple endings and achievements. For that, we can
give everyone flight and haste, then use potions of invisibility to turn everyone
invisible. At the time of making this video, this allows us to just fly past all
of the enemies in turn-based mode, completely undetected. Once we’ve moved everyone
up into the northeast side of the tower, we can have one character fly the rest of the way up to
the chamber that precedes the final boss fight. In case the devs decide to patch in some enemies
with see invisibility, or if you’re like me and want to get in some fighting, let’s go
over the more confrontational approach. We’ll enter turn-based mode,
haste both Karlach and Minsc, and use a potion of flying on everyone. Jaheira
can also use Spirit Guardians at a high level. Then we’ll save, exit turn-based
mode, and run ahead into the fray. At the start of combat, we can have Minsc throw
a Potion of Speed on both Jaheira and our MC. Also, you may notice a new
mechanic, Call Forth Allies, which can be used to call in help from
our various allies we’ve earned through our deeds. Keep in mind that any of these
that actually bring troops onto the field, can result in those troops permanently dying.
This is really important when it comes to Zevlor and his Hellrider Platoon. If Zevlor dies
on the field, we will NOT get the “Leave No One Behind” achievement. For that reason, we
probably shouldn’t call them into the battle. In any case, we can start by having our
Sorcerer fly up to the northern bridge, using a Lightning Bolt to wipe out all
of the Goblins. We can then eliminate the Ogre to the east by sending a firebolt
at the nearby group of explosive barrels. Next, we’ll have Jaheira make the rounds, lighting up and tripping most of the remaining
enemies currently in the turn-order. Minsc can clear out the cluster of
enemies to the east, and Karlach can handle the enemies near the back. We
will want to keep the Winged Horror alive until the next round of combat,
so we can regain all of our actions. Both the Mind Flayers and Inquisitors
are major threats as they have moves that either stun or interrupt concentration. At the start of our next turn, Karlach can fly
northeast towards a cluster of enemies. Once they are in the turn-order, Minsc can eliminate the
Winged Horror and start flying northeast as well. We will want to cut down the Mind Flayers
first, as they can counter spellcasters. Once that is handled, our Sorcerer can
clear out most of the remaining enemies with a twinned chain lightning. We will
leave a single enemy alive once again, probably the Winged Horror to the south, and
move east towards the large set of Iron Doors. I messed this up and exited combat, so
to prevent all buffs from wearing off I just entered turn-based mode outside of combat. At the start of the next turn, we can have one
of our characters start flying up the path to the northeast until triggering a cutscene and getting
more enemies in the turn-order. We will then want to move our remaining party members to where that
cutscene was triggered, and don’t forget Orpheus! Once everyone has caught up, we can have a
single character get everyone to teleport straight to the end of this final climb.
That character can either bust down the heavy oak doors or fly around them, then
fly up through a window to the southeast. This will teleport everyone to the preparation
room before the final fight. On Tactician there is no restoration device, but we should
have more than enough Potions of Angelic Slumber. I recommend getting as many High-level
buffs with our cleric before using one on them. Once everyone has used a Potion of Angelic
Slumber, we can prepare for the final fight. First, we can convert several level 4 spell slots
into Sorcery Points. We will have everyone huddle up and have Jaheira throw down a Potion of Flying.
Twinned Haste on our Sorcerer and Karlach. Karlach can then Haste Jaheira using the Darkfire Bow, and
Minsc can cast Celestial Haste on himself, as well as Giant Form. Jaheira can use a high level Spirit
Guardians, and Karlach can use Wholeness of Body. Once everyone is ready, we can save the
game, then interact with the Brain Stem to go face the Nether Brain. You can pause
here until combat begins to avoid spoilers. We can start combat by having Jaheira fly
to the Red Dragon and Emperor. Setting off a couple of Radiant Destructive Waves
to heavily debuff nearby enemies. Next, our Sorcerer can heavily
damage the Red Dragon and Dream Guardians with a couple of twinned
Chain Lightnings. We might even hit the Red Dragon with a quickened
Chain Lightning for good measure. Then, because of his sword, Minsc is a great
Candidate to finish off the Red Dragon. The “Topple the big folk” special attack comes
in handy here. Defeating the Red Dragon will unlock the “Interfectorum Draconis”
achievement. With his remaining attacks, he can move towards the southernmost Mind Flayer
and start working his way towards the crown. On her turn, we’ll have Karlach
use Step of the Wind: Disengage, then hop around and either stun or outright defeat
the remaining Dream Guardians and Mind Flayers. We will want to get our party as close to the Crown as possible. We do not want to
have our Mind Flayer, whoever that is, use the Karsus’ Compulsion ability on
the crown until all of our party is near the crown. If anyone no longer has haste at
this point, they can use a Potion of Speed. At the start of our next turn,
once all enemies are defeated, we can switch to our Mind Flayer character to
open a portal to the Nether Brain’s Psyche. This is a pretty good time to use those
Runepowder barrels and bombs. We can have Jaheira place them all on the westmost platform,
at the very edge of it, then fly back to safety. Our Sorcerer can ignite them with
a Firebolt, and after that blast, our remaining characters should
be able to finish the job. Once the Nether Brain is defeated, we
will get a choice on how to end the game, which will also affect what achievements we get,
so it’s a good idea to make a save here to revert back to. If our MC is the Mind Flayer, we can
command the nether brain to die, and that will get us the “Ceremorphosis” achievement, along with
the “Hero of the Forgotten Realms” achievement. If we choose to take control and become
Absolute, we will get the “Absolute Power Corrupts” achievement. If we are Dark Urge
when we do this, I believe we will get the “Sins of the Father” achievement instead.
I’ve seen some say that this is only unlocked if you perform certain actions as the Dark
Urge, but that was not the case when I got it. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong,
and if you want to play on the safe side, make sure to accept Bhaal’s gift when it is
offered after defeating Orin as the Dark Urge. We can also get the same achievements if our
character is not the Mind Flayer. To do that, we will need to successfully betray
whoever did become the Mind Flayer. Alternatively, we can allow our Mind
Flayer Ally to destroy the Nether Brain, and this will get us the “Hero of
the Forgotten Realms” Achievement. Destroying the Nether Brain may be required
to get the “No One Left Behind” achievement, which requires saving all tieflings
possible in a single playthrough, and it may not unlock until after the end credits. Regardless of how we choose to end things, we
should also get the “All’s Well That Ends Well” though, again, it might be after the end credits.
The same goes for the “Critical Hit” achievement, which is unlocked for beating the game
on Tactician difficulty, start to finish. Choosing to take control and become absolute
in any form will have a short cutscene, followed by end credits, so it might
be better to do that ending first. On the other hand, destroying the Nether Brain
will have a more drawn out ending and even an epilogue, where we can see the results of our
actions. This will also give us some final choices to make. You can pause now to avoid spoilers, but
I’ll cover the major ones and their consequences. First, if we succeed on a
difficult persuasion check, we can convince Lae’zel to stay with
us, rather than go and help save her people. Doing so will guarantee Orpheus’
death, assuming he is a Mind Flayer. On the other hand, if we tell
Lae’zel to go help her people, we can Persuade Orpheus to go on
living, rather than end his life. Gale will speak with us, but regardless of
what we say at this point, his mind will be made up to either reforge the Crown of
Karsus for himself, or to return to Mystra. After Astarion makes his exit, we will
need to figure out what to do with Karlach, assuming she did not become a Mind Flayer. We
can allow her engine to burn out, unprotested, or we can convince her to return to Avernus. If we
choose the latter, we can have Wyll go with her, join her ourself, or all go as a group
of three. Going with Karlach will result in a special cutscene after we are shown
that the city of Baldur’s Gate is saved. However, if you are romancing a different
companion, you may want to send Karlach with Wyll to Avernus. This will allow you
to have a special final moment with them. Several months after those events, we will be able to reunite with our
companions for one final celebration. There is a clothing chest with
whatever we might want to put on. If we took a potion of animal speaking before
defeating the Nether Brain, we will be able to speak with both Scratch and our Owlbear.
There is definitely some funny dialogue to be had here. We can also tell the Owlbeart to go
live with either Shadowheart or Halsin. Scratch, meanwhile, will give us the Inert Astral
Prism, and expect us to play fetch with him. We can speak with our various
companions and ask about their journeys since defeating the Nether Brain.
There are some tongue-in-cheek references to both this game and table-top in general,
so it’s worthwhile to speak with each. We can also read the Baldur’s Mouth Gazettes to
the east, the stories they have will reflect the choices we made during our adventure. The same
goes for the nearby Chest of Grateful Words. Once we are ready to end the game, we can
find Withers in a room to the southeast. Speaking to him, we can eventually say “I think
I’ve caught up with everyone. What comes next?” to trigger the final ending of the game.
There will also be a post-credit scene. As far as I know, this game makes getting all
achievements in a single playthrough impossible. To get the remaining achievements, I recommend
playing through the game on Honour Mode with the Dark Urge Origin. You can pick any race you
want, but for my money, Halflings are a pretty good choice as they have a racial feature that
makes rolling natural 1’s or critical failures much less likely. Beating the game on Honour
Mode will award the “Foehammer” achievement, and at the same time you can get the two Dark
Urge achievements, “Embrace Your Urge” and “Sins of the Father”. With that said, to
get the “Sins of the Father” achievement, you will need to pick the evil ending, and there
is no loading back on Honour Mode, so you may want to do the Honour Mode and Dark Urge playthroughs
separately, though that is completely up to you. This guide series should also serve pretty well
for a guide to being successful in Honour mode, though if you want to explore some of the more
evil choices as a Dark Urge, you may diverge pretty far from this guide. Do know that the
game is generally more difficult when making evil choices, as many more combats will occur
and you will have fewer allies. Because of that, and if you want to minimize your risk of a total
party kill, follow this series over again closely. Although, do be extra careful in how you approach
the Phase Spider Matriarch, as it is exceptionally dangerous in Honour Mode, and can no longer be
pushed into the chasm for an easy victory. Also, look out for the Owlbear, as you will need to face
two Owlbears instead of just one. I am considering making a video specifically on Honour Mode bosses,
tips, and tricks, assuming I can find the time. All that aside, I would also encourage
branching out, trying new races, classes, strategies and approaches, and going
down different paths in this game. Due to the very nature of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is
impossible to cover all aspects and potential outcomes in a single playthrough. Hopefully
this guide series has, at the very least, provided a solid understanding and framework
of Baldur’s Gate 3’s systems and rules, so that anyone that has watched can make
the most of this one-of-a-kind game. In any case, I wish you all the best in your
future Baldur’s Gate adventures. This series has been an immense amount of work to
put together but I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I hope you
all enjoyed it and found it helpful. If you have any questions, you can reach out
in the comments, where I will do my best to help. If you want to see more great content, you
can head over to my channel, and if you’re new, consider subscribing, you’re helping me feed my
cat, her name’s Marshmallow. Have a great day, if you’re here today, have a great Friday, a great weekend, and a
great year, and as always, thanks for watching!
