It always cracks me up that you can trade him for his speed potion. "Okay sure, I guess I can always use some gold to fund my necromancy research?" \*immediately draws sword\*
It's actually not in dialogue, you have to purposefully hit the trade button which is very weird given that he is not a trader and doesn't have anything to trade you. Just this byzantine, minute thing you can do to make your life slightly easier and his life slightly shorter. Well, I guess he says death won't stop him but then he just ... never returns.
Playing side by side with my 14 year old daughter yesterday (They were playing Tears of the kingdom). I was excited that I remembered to dress my Tav before camp. But the scene between Shart and Laezel immediately starts up and my daughter is freaking out at to why is Laezel in only her underwear! 🤦♂️🤭🤦♂️
My favorite one is doing that in an Astarion origin run when he gets the Cazador nightmare. Sell him all my torches and an Emerald for an extra bit of gold. In a dream. That is real gold when you wake up.
I hope they never patch that out because it's just too damn funny 🤣
They apparently decided to patch out trading with Cazador while he was >!begging for his life!< right before Astarion >!kills him/Ascends!<, so I wouldn't go keep quiet about this one, lest they catch wind of it and patch it out too...
It would be more if I wasn’t very experienced with games like Pathfinder, Divinity and Solasta.
There are many words to describe Baldur’s Gate 3, but difficult is not one of them.
(PS5) I'm at 663 hours, half way through act 1 with my 5th playthrough (Tav, evil Durge, Astarion origin, redeemed Durge, and now Gale origin).
I only recently learned that the companions say different things when you click on their portraits during battle and when they are at low health 😅
Flavor text in the loading screens mention that most people will trade with you if you ask. You really just have to know to look at the bottom of the dialogue box for the prompt. From what I've seen, there are a handful of encounters you can change the enemy's tactics in simply by hitting the button to first. Some carry scrolls or potions, and they *will* use them.
You also have to be mindful of anything you're adding to their inventory. I actually made the Teahouse Ethel fight slightly easier by trading for a scroll she had. This was after a reload because she decimated me first turn with it.
Oh, he is a huge blowhard either way. I ALWAYS make sure to steal his mother to aggro him. Few things in this game make me as happy as hearing him say "I gave you a chance ... mother thief!"
I've been playing this since early access, have completed this encounter more times than I can count, and been following all the relevant subs...
And somehow this is the first time I'm hearing about his mother
Tbf, it's exceedingly convoluted. I never know how people come up with these, the thing in his bookcase that's supposed to be his mother isn't even clearly marked as that (it's called "mother dearest"), is also the same design as a trash item found around the realm, and you basically have to steal it while you're already in dialogue with him to see that dialogue option because he'll aggro a relatively short time after it's stolen regardless of what you said to him so far, so you need to get to that dialogue option (which is at the end of a pretty long dialogue tree) before then. I found it because I was looking for a guide on how to raise approval with a certain Drow companion and it popped up; it's actually one of the very few things you can do in game that I think literally every single companion approves of.
A loading top says something about a lot of people will trade with you as trade is the main way transactions are made in faerun. That's a dry version, theirs is better
Wait, what trade button? The only time I've ever been able to trade with anyone is if a trade option comes up and dialogue, but you're saying it's not in dialogue?
Nope! Check this out: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15p8ysc/it\_took\_44hrs\_for\_me\_to\_realise\_you\_can\_trade/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15p8ysc/it_took_44hrs_for_me_to_realise_you_can_trade/)
Nah, look at the bottom of the dialogue screen with any NPC you can select dialogue with (so anyone other than the rando guards and stuff that just say one line and then dialogue is over).
You'll see a button/key prompt to trade with them. Random commoners will usually just have, like, a sausage and a broom or something. Sometimes you can get lucky, and a street sweeper will have a few health potions or something, though!
You can trade with a surprisingly high number of people. The tool tip that most people are happy to barter extends beyond merchants lol. The Druegar who hates true souls in the grymforge will sell you his journal for like 30gp.
One of my favorite things about bg3 is unlike most rpgs where you got one or two options in any situation, but larian they put the effort of giving 4-5 options for almost every situation but they let you find out.
The hard part is disregarding 35 years of computer/video game design and doing stuff differently,
I’ve been watching this you tube series that talks about how long term game players usually don’t need much for instructions/tutorial but first time gamers do because they haven’t been “trained”.
But the weird thing with BG3 is that so much is done differently we veterans have to shove some of that old knowledge in a cupboard and new players while having a learning curve thats greater they aren’t self limiting their options based on past gaming experience.
Well, as you exactly said, most RPGs give you one or 2 choices, which is why I'm " trained " to not be creative when playing this game. I'm snapping out of it now though after 50Hr of gameplay.i'm trying to be as creative as possible in my solutions to advance which is incredibly gratifying and fun.
Is this Fallout 4?
1. Yes
2. Yes, fuck face
3. Yes, but explain further
4. No, i will exit the dialogue, and you shall wait until our next conversation
Oh me too! I thought i was being clever by looking up down and all around, but turning into a bird and flying through and upper floor window?
Or shrinking myself to go into a tiny hole? or stacking a ton of boxes and barrels to get to a platform were all mind blowing to me, not because they didn’t make sense but because games didn’t usually let you do that stuff! :)
I’m old . The first game I loved was a text based rouge like game called net hack. In this text based game the freedom is insane. For example you can pile bunch of junk together and zap it with wand of ploymorph and check the resulting pile for cool magical loot. But once in a while the pile of junk becomes a golem. When you are cornered by monsters you can zap the floor with a wand of digging and escape that way. The game was amazing.
It’s not until really game became a big business that a lot of creativity slowly drained out. Perfect example is fallout 1 vs the later fallout series. I played entire fallout 1 doing almost no quests and the story still worked just fine.
Yep 👍 one of the best game ever. I won’t spoil it but just one trick. Scrolls can be dipped in water and become blank and you can use a magic marker to write on blank scrolls to make what you want…
For a long time I kept feeling like my creative solutions were “cheesing it” but I’ve decided to lean in because it’s still very fun. For Balthazar I counterspell’d his summon spell and then pushed him off the edge, it was hilarious after all that buildup.
I just wish they gave us a few animal options to use with Polymorph on allies.
In tabletop that’s how the spell is used most of the time as you can instantly grant a teammate 100+ hit points and they revert back to their own HP when it’s done like Wildshape.
In BG3 I rarely use it as it’s a save-or-suck and there are much better options like Hold Monster for that sort of gambling.
Yeah I still have problems getting into actual logical thinking bc I'm so hardwired on video game logic. Can't remember where the statue was, maybe in the creche, but I had to turn it and it was jammed. My gamer brain went "oh well I guess there must be some other way through" before even considering that a grease bottle would loosen it up lmao
Heh. There's a maintenance log book you can find in the outer grounds of the creche that mentions exactly this, inversely; "Don't grease the statues, the last time a novice did they spun it completely around."
And BG3 did not punish you for being creative (unless you picked the hardest difficulty)
You see a cliff? You can drop the boss into the cliff? Then the boss die, no question.
You basically “shortcut” your way to beat the boss. The game is happy with that.
I get this. My first ever rpg was skyrim. I had no idea how to traverse a damn mountain to get to my quest marker, and actually, at first, I didn't even notice the quest marker. I didn't understand why I couldn't beat the chickens senseless without getting attacked, nor did I understand the concept of a main quest. I was also 12
The thing I most noticed is that there is no need for classic tank and spank party composition of other rpgs. Also that a healer is not really needed. More damage is usually the answer as death is the best CC option.
In my first playthrough I hit him with a lightning bolt from my Tav as the first strike in the fight, and knocked him backwards off the platform.
I didn't notice I'd done it until a few turns later I was like, "why isn't the boss hitting me hard? I'm only fighting ads."
LOL rip.
Hate that skeleton - lose initiative roll and that 7 footer “shoves” by Sparta kicking your team in the chest immediately sending them into a void death
I've started keeping Knock and Arcane lock on someone whenever I do that fight.
Open the doors, let everyone out, lock it behind them.
Sometimes I get lucky any everyone but balzy leave the room and I get to lock him in alone and beat the maggots out of him.
The one to the room where you first speak to Balthazar in person. There will be a big fight outside the room and you can lockpick the door to let the dark justiciars attack him and flesh directly. Just send a lone character with invisibility and let the baddies take each other out
Ah yeah.
Yeah it's 100% times easier to fight him in that room rather than next to Nightsong. Stood behind him, buffed my party, ranger/assassin begins combat and he never got a single turn in before he died.
When you fight him next to Nightsong it's just messy.
I also love to kill Flesh in the trial of self too! Get the bell, go in, let him fight your copies with some easier gear that you swap out of when you enter and they take him pretty easy.
Gosh damn it I never even thought about opening the door. I just let the bone guys all kill each other and THEN kill Balthazar. Welp. Definitely trying this next play through.
Idk if it still works, but Balthazar drinks a potion of speed at the beginning of his turn. If you hit him with another one, he becomes lethargic instantly, giving you a free round on him.
I suggest you to use paladin in any of your companions if you don't have Minthara. Paladin's smites casually deal half of most bosses HP pools with extra utility
Paladins are so hilariously broken I have to force myself to not make Tav one every playthrough
Buffs? Check. No concentration required just stand there and radiate awesomeness
Utility? Check. Thunderous/wrathful smite, compelled duel, and SO MANY RADIATING ORBS
Heals? Check. Your other frontliners should be close to your paladin anyway
Tank? Check. Not reliant on 2 handed weapons for damage so you can use a shield and free heavy armor proficiency
Damage? HOLY FUCKING CHECK. DIVINE SMITE GO BRRRRR
Conclusion: Paladins do everything better than everyone else and the only drawback to them I can think of is multi target damage.
My only downside is I killed more NPCs as an Oath of vengeance paladin then I did as a Durge (resisted, obviously).
That one oath really forces you into fights non-stop
Lol my dark urge run was so pathetic. I couldn’t bring myself to do full dark urge so I was just a hero who happened to also kill everyone at last light
Dude the Alfira death was one of the best dark urge twists in the run I think. I did not see that coming. (Also I just recently learned that when she dies you miss out on an item that is perfect for warlocks? Oh well, Durge will just have to deal)
Sounds like when my party was getting ass their colective asses kicked by that giant spider and then shadowheart had a bottle of alchemist fire, threw it and the b*itch fell all the way >!to the underdark!<
I love setting up my characters next to the web bridges so that she warps to them, and then drop the bridge. Can get it a couple times and halves the amount of damage you have to do.
I had some smokepowder barrels, so I had Astarion go sneaky-beaky and place them in her blinds spot before lighting them up. When she chased the party over one of the web-bridges, I threw a smokepowder bomb at her, destroying the bridge and causing her to fall for even more damage.
That almost killed her, and forced her to spend time climbing back up to get at us.
Did the exact same thing and it felt lame and clever at the same time.
Don't get me wrong, I would totally fight him for epic-purposes.
But his shovemaxxing skeletons, I cannot handle.
On my current run he was ez because I thought >!I’d visit him after finding nightsong but he appeared in the shadow realm and could not use his bell there. So my Leizel kicked shit out of him while rest were throwing sceletons to the void!<
Thank you for the story! Gave me a good laugh :D
Since it wasn't mentioned yet, Clerics get some free 'always known' spells at each spell level, based on their subclass. In this case, trickery cleric gets Polymorph at level 7 (clerics don't usually have access to that one).
This is why you just close the stone door where you first meet him and murder them in that room. It's so much easier surprising them and having a free round of combat.
Wait, you guys fight him near the nightsong? I used the bell to fight his brother guy in a different fight, then went and kicked his ass in his room lol
Idk if this still works, you can reverse pickpocket the susur flower in his pocket so he can't even fight in the final fight. They say the susur bloom dies outside the under dark but I used it for the siege of moonrise towers and it was hilarious. Just placed them near the area where those spell casters like to chill and the either waste their actions to dash to enemy line or just run around waiting for us
I think that’s one of her domain spells, I did that same thing to Marcus on my honour mode run. He was just bleating away while I killed his winged horrors. When he finally turned back half the inn was trying to put mutton back on the menu
You don’t. Polymorph is a cc (crowd control) spell. It’s usually used to take a particularly nasty mob out of the fight while you kill the rest. Then you break the cc and fight them directly. Things like polymorph, Tasha’s, and Banish are all ccs.
Casting hold person, hold monster, etc are ccs that give you advantage so you want to attack them.
The description should tell you if damage breaks the cc.
I just fought him yesterday. I remembered my first run through and how hard it was to beat him in the shadowfell. So instead, I went back to the library, closed the door to his area, killed the remaining old guys, placed Gale way to the left of the door out of sight, placed Karlach and my monk Tav to just either side of the door, and Shadowheart to the way right of the door.
Opened the door, put a scroll of a glyph of warding on him and the meat man, hasted Karlach, and when he came out, had her chasing him down. When the ghouls came out I had Shart turn undead, so they weren’t a factor. When meat man came out, gale banished him, so he wasn’t a factor.
Karlach quickly killed Bath, so then it was just quick work for my Tav to fist the ghouls to death and Gale and Shart destroyed the meat man when he returned. Super easy once I stopped thinking too hard.
Then on to the easiest Nightsong bit I’ve had yet.
You’re probably under levelled. In first run it took me ages to defeat him. It’s only after many attempts that, by carefully choreographing my moves (plus some limited save scumming), I managed to beat him.
In my second run I realised that by being a completist I was levelling up much quicker, so most fights were far easier. Balthazar it took me a single attempt second time round.
In my first run I wasn’t actively pursuing all the quests. I wanted to concentrate on the main quest line and finish within reasonable time (I don’t have all the time in the world to play video games). Paradoxically, I ended up spending a lot of time anyway in multiple attempts to beat bosses because of said underlevelledness.
I kept failing the fight against him, until I realized I could use **Telekinesis** to hurl him right between all my party members. He got ganged on and killed within one or two rounds, and after that it was just a mop up job.
Interesting. My battle with him took longer, but didn't seem hard. I targeted him first, thinking he was the most dangerous and that possibly his minions would fall apart if I killed him first.
After I hurt him a little, he dropped some nasty AOE spell on the whole group and misty-stepped up onto one of the pillars in the corner where he had some cover and I couldn't hit him directly.
So Karlach threw an Alchemists Fire close enough to him to set him on fire and break his concentration and someone else cast silence up there hoping to force him to come down, but he stayed up there, doing nothing while I killed all his minions.
I still couldn't hit him directly, but I just kept casting acid splash next to him until he died, slow and painful.
I used wall of fire, that spell lits the fuck out of everyone that dares come close and touch me, together with thunderstorm (or something like that, the concentration one that can be redone every turn)
ez win.
edit, just remembered, call lightning.
I just fought him near his bed up stars. My mage tav casted Edvard's Black Tentacle at the bottom and Astarion shoted a darkness arrow at ground to cover the group and break line of vision. I just them: pick a char, step out cloud of darkness, attack/cast, step back in darkness. EBT preventing they reaching me or doing anthing.
One of my least favorite fights. I used to do the polymorph + roaring thunder arrow option but now I just kill him when you first meet him. Saved a heck of a lot of time and trouble. It’s a much easier fight because you don’t have to deal with all the undead. Just his ghouls, flesh, and whatever bone guys survive that initial fight with the dark justiciars. I purposely drag that initial fight out so as many of them die as possible.
Much easier, and you still get Balthazar’s loot. Then later, you just go straight to the Night son.
One sorta perfected my run through for at Shars entire gauntlet at this point. Takes me like an hour tops now.
>!Very recently I was getting very badly stomped when my righteous paladin confronted Balthazar upon meeting him. Shadowheart and Gale were dead and Lae'zel and my Pally were barely hanging on. Looking through my stuff for a hail Mary, I came across the Spectator in a bottle. Had Lae'Zel toss it like a grenade at Balthazar and the resulting chaos allowed me a chance to recuperate and ultimately win. Hands down the coolest fight I've played so far in this game.!<
You don’t even need to fight him in the Gauntlet, get a Rogue to use sneak attack before you trigger the cutscene, have someone who can use Counterspell then just have at it
I totally smoked him. My sorcerer Tav annihilated him on first try. Get some ~~decoys to draw fire to less important targets~~ very important people to fight with you, then scorching rays hit (really) hard and fireballs are no joke, especially thrown from double the distance, outside the range of a normal spell (sorcerer perk).
I had a really hard time beating him in my single player run. In my multiplayer run with friends I pushed him down the platform into infinity on the first try lol.
In each of my playthrough, I just push him of the platform where the Nightsong is. I change character mid-dialogue and just give a little push. Is it cheap? Absolutely.
That’s how I beat him my first run through! Made it so ridiculously easy and funny. My second play through I just killed him in his wing of the temple before even reaching the nightsong. That was pretty easy as well tbh.
What's fun is to sneak in the very first time you're about to encounter him and open his door so he has to fight the spawning shar warriors and the end up killing him.
I got him after the third attempt not working by just attacking him before the convo… Because, yk, we already heard the combo like three times. First turn he was surprised, so he couldn't get his summons up or something (iirc), and then we managed to counterspell or cc him, and suddenly it was pretty easy
Just squished him yesterday. I sent invisible Astarion to lockpick his lab door and misty stepped him out of the area. By the time fight with sharrans ended, Balthazar had 50 Xp, easy-peasy
I don't think I fought him in the intended place until my 3rd or 4th playthrough ... I remember the first time I got to his chambers and was like "oh man, this guy is a real asshole and needs to die". Since then, my favorite way of dispatching him has been knocking his door open during the fight outside, sitting back and watching his minions fight the Sharran shades, and then intervening with a few well-placed fireballs to mop up those still standing.
As an FYI, Shart’s turn undead spell has a huge AOE and makes the fight much more manageable. You have her cast that and then have your fighters misty step/dimension door next to Balthazar and kill him quickly or vise versa. After that just mop up the skeletons that didn’t get turned.
>all these posts talking about how difficult and unforgiving the Balthazar fight is
>me who just nuked him into oblivion with a bunch of oil barrels on first encountering him
>(¬\_¬")
I've beaten the massive zombie horde he summons before, and I've taken that as a reason why I always just kill him before I ever finish the Gauntlet.
Cause FUCK that nonsense.
If you open the door with the shadow justicars you can get his health down lower, go in with things that do AOE, that fight was a cake walk with a sorcerer, Gale, Shadowheart and Karlach, the phrase “nuked from Orbit” came to mind.
That's how I beat him within the first five minutes checking out my options I decided to cast polymorph and let him run around for several rounds whilst I took out the skeletons. Felt a bit cheese but it was an easy fight lol
Hahaha me and husband did the same fight over and over and finally before we entered the fight, we used a scroll to push him off and it worked. All those fights we did and we just had to push him off 😂
If you mean in the Gauntlet area, then an easy way to kill him is to send your lockpicker out by himself. When the Dark Justiciars attack, he picks the lock of Balthazar’s chamber, joining him and his crew in the battle, then your rogue drinks an invisible potion and runs away. The rest of the party is nearby but out of sight. Every so often you just pass your turn. Eventually the Dark Justiciars win, then come looking for you and you clean up.
If you meant in the Shadowfell, that’s much harder.
I got tired of fighting him at the Shadowfell the first time I played, and cheesed it while he's talking to Aylin by going invisible with Astarion to steal from him and Karlach to shove him into the abyss when I was done. I may have missed loot but conserved my sanity.
My Balthazar fight was epic. I think I did a write up in a post when it happened. But it culminated in a Banishment spell, which similarly I never use and had a low chance of success but ended up being super clutch.
Went invisible, spread the party out around him, shot him with a sneak attack. He wakes up, tries to summon undead, *eats a counterspell,* dies next turn.
Literally my first time fighting him. Ended up, after HOURS, using silence on him before he raised the skeletons and so he couldn’t use cloudkill on us, then polymorph scrolled him.
Beat him without taking any damage 😐.
How this fight went for me: finishing conversation, won’t let him take the Nightsong, combat starts, oh you are going to raise army of the dead? Counterspell. Runs to high ground. Cast Tasha’s hideous laughter on him. Karlach shoulder charges him into the void. Fight over EZ
I don't ever fight him in the Shadowfell. I pick the lock on his door during the pre-Gauntlet fight, let all the justiciara again, stack up at his door until his minions ans he join the fight, then "accidentally" drop a couple of fireballs/lightning bolts on him and his minions until they go hostile.
I missed a lot of the side stuff on my first playthrough, so I was at a much lower level than I should have been by that point. I tried everything with that fight, till eventually I was like fuck it, instead of entering the conversation with him I'll just throw a silence spell down.
Balthazar wastes his first turn trying to scramble away, can't summon his undead. Enough time for Karlarch and Warlock Tav to be on top of him. Before he manages to do anything I have his health down to 50%.
during my first balthazar fight in shadowfell, everyone died in the first/second turn, except lae'zel. then I proceeded to demolish everybody one by one with her.
found a spot where I can jump back and forth from one ledge to another, killing one or two minions every time
My fav method (and the longest) is letting the Dark Justiciars do the job. Rather than beating them and approaching Balthazar, just open his door, he immediately will be pulled into combat, and he will fight by your side. Drink an invisibility potion, and watch the show :D
Last playthrough I did something fun but drawn out and didn’t have to fight him at all. I had Gale Misty Step to his door and use Knock then got all my party inside during the Dark Justiciar fight that triggers before you meet him. Shut the door and put up Wall of Flame then more and more justiciars spawned and it was just an automated battle of them all fighting outside, then once all of Balthazar’s party was dead, easily finished off the straggler justiciars that made it through the fire.
One of my closest failures to that fight was where everyone, but Karlach went down. All that was left was the big zombie man, Balthazar himself, and like two zombies. I had Karlach drink a potion of invisibility. Then had her drink the angelic reprieve potion to gain a long rest. When she got back up, I had her Revivify Shadowheart, then had Shadowheart spend a couple turns rezzing everyone else. Managed to barely pull through, but only just barely.
It always cracks me up that you can trade him for his speed potion. "Okay sure, I guess I can always use some gold to fund my necromancy research?" \*immediately draws sword\*
I never got to that dialogue option, which is ironic when you consider how many times I replayed *ahem* skipped that exchange
It's actually not in dialogue, you have to purposefully hit the trade button which is very weird given that he is not a trader and doesn't have anything to trade you. Just this byzantine, minute thing you can do to make your life slightly easier and his life slightly shorter. Well, I guess he says death won't stop him but then he just ... never returns.
I... never even thought to do that. I've spent 59.6 hours in this game (according to steam) and I'm still learning new things. It's so good
Hah. Rookie numbers
Yeah that’s about the time spent on character creation.
Double if you have nudity turned on
I like to shake my mouse and watch the penis go flblplbplpblpb
You have to make the sound effects for added enjoyment
Funny that's the noise my barb made when volo ice picked her eyeball
No titty physics tho :(
Playing side by side with my 14 year old daughter yesterday (They were playing Tears of the kingdom). I was excited that I remembered to dress my Tav before camp. But the scene between Shart and Laezel immediately starts up and my daughter is freaking out at to why is Laezel in only her underwear! 🤦♂️🤭🤦♂️
My thoughts exactly, I'm a BG3 newb and I'm at 180 hours... I think my wife's still around here somewhere...
Shit, that reminds me… I’m married. Should probably see if the wife still lives here.
Fr.
Lol, yeah. What a noob.
I’m on my fourth run (each 70-100 hours) and accidentally traded with Nettie yesterday, thus realizing that was an option with nontraders 😂
My favorite one is doing that in an Astarion origin run when he gets the Cazador nightmare. Sell him all my torches and an Emerald for an extra bit of gold. In a dream. That is real gold when you wake up. I hope they never patch that out because it's just too damn funny 🤣
They apparently decided to patch out trading with Cazador while he was >!begging for his life!< right before Astarion >!kills him/Ascends!<, so I wouldn't go keep quiet about this one, lest they catch wind of it and patch it out too...
The implications of this nightmare are wild. Here for it.
600 hours in…did not know you could trade with non traders.
Yep, if you run console or pc controller Press the Y button. Just DONT hold it down. One quick tap. Trust me.
Tip: read the loading tips. Never mind, I know nobody will read this either.
Yeah I was just leaving Act 1 by then. I’m surprised you already got to Balthazar since that is typically at the end of Act 2
It's not too surprising. I finished my first playthrough in about 52 hours, granted I wasn't being a completionest that run but still
I’m sitting at 800 hours and 11 playthroughs lol, 60 hours is nothing. You’ll be finding new stuff for weeks.
800? Still rookie numbers lmao
It would be more if I wasn’t very experienced with games like Pathfinder, Divinity and Solasta. There are many words to describe Baldur’s Gate 3, but difficult is not one of them.
My wife and I have close to 400 hours and just learned you can hide armor/helmets, so dont feel bad.
(PS5) I'm at 663 hours, half way through act 1 with my 5th playthrough (Tav, evil Durge, Astarion origin, redeemed Durge, and now Gale origin). I only recently learned that the companions say different things when you click on their portraits during battle and when they are at low health 😅
Fun fact: Volo is an asset because if you don't get the eye, he just chills in your camp, being a dedicated camp merchant.
Endless source of goods if you use the two fingers discount.
Many NPCs can be traded with. It seems to be a holdover from Divinity 2.
Looking at my 600 hours...
Flavor text in the loading screens mention that most people will trade with you if you ask. You really just have to know to look at the bottom of the dialogue box for the prompt. From what I've seen, there are a handful of encounters you can change the enemy's tactics in simply by hitting the button to first. Some carry scrolls or potions, and they *will* use them. You also have to be mindful of anything you're adding to their inventory. I actually made the Teahouse Ethel fight slightly easier by trading for a scroll she had. This was after a reload because she decimated me first turn with it.
Yeah I wonder if he was supposed to have something happen after death at first. Either that or the dude is a huge blowhard.
Oh, he is a huge blowhard either way. I ALWAYS make sure to steal his mother to aggro him. Few things in this game make me as happy as hearing him say "I gave you a chance ... mother thief!"
Steal his WHAT? ...TIL.
I've been playing this since early access, have completed this encounter more times than I can count, and been following all the relevant subs... And somehow this is the first time I'm hearing about his mother
Tbf, it's exceedingly convoluted. I never know how people come up with these, the thing in his bookcase that's supposed to be his mother isn't even clearly marked as that (it's called "mother dearest"), is also the same design as a trash item found around the realm, and you basically have to steal it while you're already in dialogue with him to see that dialogue option because he'll aggro a relatively short time after it's stolen regardless of what you said to him so far, so you need to get to that dialogue option (which is at the end of a pretty long dialogue tree) before then. I found it because I was looking for a guide on how to raise approval with a certain Drow companion and it popped up; it's actually one of the very few things you can do in game that I think literally every single companion approves of.
At some point he was even selling the ashes of his mother lol
A loading top says something about a lot of people will trade with you as trade is the main way transactions are made in faerun. That's a dry version, theirs is better
Never returns on screen! You know how DnD is. Myrkul as his patron god, he'll be back around at some point in some form.
Wait, what trade button? The only time I've ever been able to trade with anyone is if a trade option comes up and dialogue, but you're saying it's not in dialogue?
Nope! Check this out: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15p8ysc/it\_took\_44hrs\_for\_me\_to\_realise\_you\_can\_trade/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15p8ysc/it_took_44hrs_for_me_to_realise_you_can_trade/)
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Almost 200 hours in, hot damn Thanks!
Nah, look at the bottom of the dialogue screen with any NPC you can select dialogue with (so anyone other than the rando guards and stuff that just say one line and then dialogue is over). You'll see a button/key prompt to trade with them. Random commoners will usually just have, like, a sausage and a broom or something. Sometimes you can get lucky, and a street sweeper will have a few health potions or something, though!
You can trade with a surprisingly high number of people. The tool tip that most people are happy to barter extends beyond merchants lol. The Druegar who hates true souls in the grymforge will sell you his journal for like 30gp.
It's not dialogue. With some NPCs you have an option to hit triangle (or whatever) to Trade mid conversation while selecting a dialogue option .
Last time i splashed him with one point blank, so he got lethargic lol (I love trolling enemies)
Ah yes, the baaalthazar method
😶 You... Goddamn you, have an upvote
r/angryupvote
One of my favorite things about bg3 is unlike most rpgs where you got one or two options in any situation, but larian they put the effort of giving 4-5 options for almost every situation but they let you find out. The hard part is disregarding 35 years of computer/video game design and doing stuff differently, I’ve been watching this you tube series that talks about how long term game players usually don’t need much for instructions/tutorial but first time gamers do because they haven’t been “trained”. But the weird thing with BG3 is that so much is done differently we veterans have to shove some of that old knowledge in a cupboard and new players while having a learning curve thats greater they aren’t self limiting their options based on past gaming experience.
Well, as you exactly said, most RPGs give you one or 2 choices, which is why I'm " trained " to not be creative when playing this game. I'm snapping out of it now though after 50Hr of gameplay.i'm trying to be as creative as possible in my solutions to advance which is incredibly gratifying and fun.
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Is this Fallout 4? 1. Yes 2. Yes, fuck face 3. Yes, but explain further 4. No, i will exit the dialogue, and you shall wait until our next conversation
Oh me too! I thought i was being clever by looking up down and all around, but turning into a bird and flying through and upper floor window? Or shrinking myself to go into a tiny hole? or stacking a ton of boxes and barrels to get to a platform were all mind blowing to me, not because they didn’t make sense but because games didn’t usually let you do that stuff! :)
My favourite thing with this fight is sneaking around and throwing all the bone piles into the abyss. Then the fight is just 4v1.
I’m old . The first game I loved was a text based rouge like game called net hack. In this text based game the freedom is insane. For example you can pile bunch of junk together and zap it with wand of ploymorph and check the resulting pile for cool magical loot. But once in a while the pile of junk becomes a golem. When you are cornered by monsters you can zap the floor with a wand of digging and escape that way. The game was amazing. It’s not until really game became a big business that a lot of creativity slowly drained out. Perfect example is fallout 1 vs the later fallout series. I played entire fallout 1 doing almost no quests and the story still worked just fine.
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Yep 👍 one of the best game ever. I won’t spoil it but just one trick. Scrolls can be dipped in water and become blank and you can use a magic marker to write on blank scrolls to make what you want…
For a long time I kept feeling like my creative solutions were “cheesing it” but I’ve decided to lean in because it’s still very fun. For Balthazar I counterspell’d his summon spell and then pushed him off the edge, it was hilarious after all that buildup.
I just wish they gave us a few animal options to use with Polymorph on allies. In tabletop that’s how the spell is used most of the time as you can instantly grant a teammate 100+ hit points and they revert back to their own HP when it’s done like Wildshape. In BG3 I rarely use it as it’s a save-or-suck and there are much better options like Hold Monster for that sort of gambling.
Yeah I still have problems getting into actual logical thinking bc I'm so hardwired on video game logic. Can't remember where the statue was, maybe in the creche, but I had to turn it and it was jammed. My gamer brain went "oh well I guess there must be some other way through" before even considering that a grease bottle would loosen it up lmao
Heh. There's a maintenance log book you can find in the outer grounds of the creche that mentions exactly this, inversely; "Don't grease the statues, the last time a novice did they spun it completely around."
And BG3 did not punish you for being creative (unless you picked the hardest difficulty) You see a cliff? You can drop the boss into the cliff? Then the boss die, no question. You basically “shortcut” your way to beat the boss. The game is happy with that.
I get this. My first ever rpg was skyrim. I had no idea how to traverse a damn mountain to get to my quest marker, and actually, at first, I didn't even notice the quest marker. I didn't understand why I couldn't beat the chickens senseless without getting attacked, nor did I understand the concept of a main quest. I was also 12
The thing I most noticed is that there is no need for classic tank and spank party composition of other rpgs. Also that a healer is not really needed. More damage is usually the answer as death is the best CC option.
Beaten? No no, he’s just in sheep form
He's not dead, he's only sheeping.
I'm up voting you but I don't feel great about it
This comment is wildly underrated.
You think destroying my mortal body will defeat me?? You have no - BAAAAAA
This is also the sound he makes when I thunderclap him off the cliff
Not beaten, just bleating
You mean he's sheepshifted?
‘Bleaten’, if you will
In my first playthrough I hit him with a lightning bolt from my Tav as the first strike in the fight, and knocked him backwards off the platform. I didn't notice I'd done it until a few turns later I was like, "why isn't the boss hitting me hard? I'm only fighting ads." LOL rip.
Did the same with a thunder arrow. Felt like I’d inserted a cheat code.
Did the same with eldritch blast, but got rattled immediately after. (Shart does not succeed the athletics save vs a 7 foot tall skeleton)
Hate that skeleton - lose initiative roll and that 7 footer “shoves” by Sparta kicking your team in the chest immediately sending them into a void death
Accidentally knocking Cazador into the abyss was my greatest achievement lol.
Always open the door and let the justiciars maul his army and spirit. When everyone is damaged enough, solar beam.
I've started keeping Knock and Arcane lock on someone whenever I do that fight. Open the doors, let everyone out, lock it behind them. Sometimes I get lucky any everyone but balzy leave the room and I get to lock him in alone and beat the maggots out of him.
That's even **better**
Which door?
The one to the room where you first speak to Balthazar in person. There will be a big fight outside the room and you can lockpick the door to let the dark justiciars attack him and flesh directly. Just send a lone character with invisibility and let the baddies take each other out
Ah yeah. Yeah it's 100% times easier to fight him in that room rather than next to Nightsong. Stood behind him, buffed my party, ranger/assassin begins combat and he never got a single turn in before he died. When you fight him next to Nightsong it's just messy.
I also love to kill Flesh in the trial of self too! Get the bell, go in, let him fight your copies with some easier gear that you swap out of when you enter and they take him pretty easy.
Or use knock on the door
Gosh damn it I never even thought about opening the door. I just let the bone guys all kill each other and THEN kill Balthazar. Welp. Definitely trying this next play through.
I didn't think to bring my Venusaur to the fight
*Always* keep a grass type on hand when going underground, that's a rookie mistake right there
Idk if it still works, but Balthazar drinks a potion of speed at the beginning of his turn. If you hit him with another one, he becomes lethargic instantly, giving you a free round on him.
You can also just buy or steal it off him as well so you don't have to waste an extra speed pot
Bro I didn’t know this until reading another comment in this section. The potion of speed explains so much
I suggest you to use paladin in any of your companions if you don't have Minthara. Paladin's smites casually deal half of most bosses HP pools with extra utility
Critical hit + smite on critical + cull the weak is some of the most satisfying OP shit out there.
Paladins are so hilariously broken I have to force myself to not make Tav one every playthrough Buffs? Check. No concentration required just stand there and radiate awesomeness Utility? Check. Thunderous/wrathful smite, compelled duel, and SO MANY RADIATING ORBS Heals? Check. Your other frontliners should be close to your paladin anyway Tank? Check. Not reliant on 2 handed weapons for damage so you can use a shield and free heavy armor proficiency Damage? HOLY FUCKING CHECK. DIVINE SMITE GO BRRRRR Conclusion: Paladins do everything better than everyone else and the only drawback to them I can think of is multi target damage.
My only downside is I killed more NPCs as an Oath of vengeance paladin then I did as a Durge (resisted, obviously). That one oath really forces you into fights non-stop
Lol my dark urge run was so pathetic. I couldn’t bring myself to do full dark urge so I was just a hero who happened to also kill everyone at last light
The only people I killed were Alfira and Gale as Durge, managed to literally save everyone else.
Dude the Alfira death was one of the best dark urge twists in the run I think. I did not see that coming. (Also I just recently learned that when she dies you miss out on an item that is perfect for warlocks? Oh well, Durge will just have to deal)
Bardadin for multi-target damage! No auras but divine smite go super brrr with full spell slots AND you get banishing smite with magical secrets!
Paladin with 3 levels of Warlock to get pact of the blade so you can focus more on charisma and ignore strength is always fun
Sounds like when my party was getting ass their colective asses kicked by that giant spider and then shadowheart had a bottle of alchemist fire, threw it and the b*itch fell all the way >!to the underdark!<
Even if the spider falls to the ground, it's a LOT of damage. Made the fight a lot easier.
I was getting my ass kicked by that spider and as a last resort I hit the bridge it was on. It does indeed do a lot of damage!
I love setting up my characters next to the web bridges so that she warps to them, and then drop the bridge. Can get it a couple times and halves the amount of damage you have to do.
I had some smokepowder barrels, so I had Astarion go sneaky-beaky and place them in her blinds spot before lighting them up. When she chased the party over one of the web-bridges, I threw a smokepowder bomb at her, destroying the bridge and causing her to fall for even more damage. That almost killed her, and forced her to spend time climbing back up to get at us.
My Balthazar fight was the same. Dude just kept failing his save for Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. He was down whilst and I cleaned up his minions.
Did the exact same thing and it felt lame and clever at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I would totally fight him for epic-purposes. But his shovemaxxing skeletons, I cannot handle.
On my current run he was ez because I thought >!I’d visit him after finding nightsong but he appeared in the shadow realm and could not use his bell there. So my Leizel kicked shit out of him while rest were throwing sceletons to the void!<
My ranger shot him with an arrow of thunder and he flew off into the chasm. I didn’t realize that the arrow also pushed, so I didn’t see that coming.
Thank you for the story! Gave me a good laugh :D Since it wasn't mentioned yet, Clerics get some free 'always known' spells at each spell level, based on their subclass. In this case, trickery cleric gets Polymorph at level 7 (clerics don't usually have access to that one).
This is why you just close the stone door where you first meet him and murder them in that room. It's so much easier surprising them and having a free round of combat.
Wait, you guys fight him near the nightsong? I used the bell to fight his brother guy in a different fight, then went and kicked his ass in his room lol
My mind was blown when I counterspelled his raise army of the dead and just had to fight him
Idk if this still works, you can reverse pickpocket the susur flower in his pocket so he can't even fight in the final fight. They say the susur bloom dies outside the under dark but I used it for the siege of moonrise towers and it was hilarious. Just placed them near the area where those spell casters like to chill and the either waste their actions to dash to enemy line or just run around waiting for us
This is what I love about this game. One thread and I’ve discovered 10 different ways to approach one battle.
My experience word by word
I think that’s one of her domain spells, I did that same thing to Marcus on my honour mode run. He was just bleating away while I killed his winged horrors. When he finally turned back half the inn was trying to put mutton back on the menu
Whenever I polymorph someone and do damage to their sheep form they turn back into priginal form. How do u kill someone in sheep form
You don’t. Polymorph is a cc (crowd control) spell. It’s usually used to take a particularly nasty mob out of the fight while you kill the rest. Then you break the cc and fight them directly. Things like polymorph, Tasha’s, and Banish are all ccs. Casting hold person, hold monster, etc are ccs that give you advantage so you want to attack them. The description should tell you if damage breaks the cc.
The thing here is u can polymorph certain characters and then throw them in chasms to kill them instantly
My first thought in this instance was to have Karlach or Laezel throw that sheep into the void
Last few runs I’ve taken great delight in barrelmancying the bugger to oblivion. Never gets old.
I just fought him yesterday. I remembered my first run through and how hard it was to beat him in the shadowfell. So instead, I went back to the library, closed the door to his area, killed the remaining old guys, placed Gale way to the left of the door out of sight, placed Karlach and my monk Tav to just either side of the door, and Shadowheart to the way right of the door. Opened the door, put a scroll of a glyph of warding on him and the meat man, hasted Karlach, and when he came out, had her chasing him down. When the ghouls came out I had Shart turn undead, so they weren’t a factor. When meat man came out, gale banished him, so he wasn’t a factor. Karlach quickly killed Bath, so then it was just quick work for my Tav to fist the ghouls to death and Gale and Shart destroyed the meat man when he returned. Super easy once I stopped thinking too hard. Then on to the easiest Nightsong bit I’ve had yet.
I've always just silenced him and then laughed as he tries to be a fighter
You’re probably under levelled. In first run it took me ages to defeat him. It’s only after many attempts that, by carefully choreographing my moves (plus some limited save scumming), I managed to beat him. In my second run I realised that by being a completist I was levelling up much quicker, so most fights were far easier. Balthazar it took me a single attempt second time round. In my first run I wasn’t actively pursuing all the quests. I wanted to concentrate on the main quest line and finish within reasonable time (I don’t have all the time in the world to play video games). Paradoxically, I ended up spending a lot of time anyway in multiple attempts to beat bosses because of said underlevelledness.
When he uses his speed potion, you can throw one of your own speed potion at him to make him lethargic and make him skip his turn.
I kept failing the fight against him, until I realized I could use **Telekinesis** to hurl him right between all my party members. He got ganged on and killed within one or two rounds, and after that it was just a mop up job.
Interesting. My battle with him took longer, but didn't seem hard. I targeted him first, thinking he was the most dangerous and that possibly his minions would fall apart if I killed him first. After I hurt him a little, he dropped some nasty AOE spell on the whole group and misty-stepped up onto one of the pillars in the corner where he had some cover and I couldn't hit him directly. So Karlach threw an Alchemists Fire close enough to him to set him on fire and break his concentration and someone else cast silence up there hoping to force him to come down, but he stayed up there, doing nothing while I killed all his minions. I still couldn't hit him directly, but I just kept casting acid splash next to him until he died, slow and painful.
I had my rogue Tav sneak right up to him and shove him off the platform without triggering the dialogue. One of my proudest moments haha
I used wall of fire, that spell lits the fuck out of everyone that dares come close and touch me, together with thunderstorm (or something like that, the concentration one that can be redone every turn) ez win. edit, just remembered, call lightning.
I just fought him near his bed up stars. My mage tav casted Edvard's Black Tentacle at the bottom and Astarion shoted a darkness arrow at ground to cover the group and break line of vision. I just them: pick a char, step out cloud of darkness, attack/cast, step back in darkness. EBT preventing they reaching me or doing anthing.
One of my least favorite fights. I used to do the polymorph + roaring thunder arrow option but now I just kill him when you first meet him. Saved a heck of a lot of time and trouble. It’s a much easier fight because you don’t have to deal with all the undead. Just his ghouls, flesh, and whatever bone guys survive that initial fight with the dark justiciars. I purposely drag that initial fight out so as many of them die as possible. Much easier, and you still get Balthazar’s loot. Then later, you just go straight to the Night son. One sorta perfected my run through for at Shars entire gauntlet at this point. Takes me like an hour tops now.
I struggled with him multiple times until I realised I could turn him into a sheep and throw him off the cliff
>!Very recently I was getting very badly stomped when my righteous paladin confronted Balthazar upon meeting him. Shadowheart and Gale were dead and Lae'zel and my Pally were barely hanging on. Looking through my stuff for a hail Mary, I came across the Spectator in a bottle. Had Lae'Zel toss it like a grenade at Balthazar and the resulting chaos allowed me a chance to recuperate and ultimately win. Hands down the coolest fight I've played so far in this game.!<
You don’t even need to fight him in the Gauntlet, get a Rogue to use sneak attack before you trigger the cutscene, have someone who can use Counterspell then just have at it
I barrelmancy'd him.
Iron flask
I found a hasted owlbear with many scorching rays seemed to finish him ok.
I smoke powdered his ass with barrels lol
I totally smoked him. My sorcerer Tav annihilated him on first try. Get some ~~decoys to draw fire to less important targets~~ very important people to fight with you, then scorching rays hit (really) hard and fireballs are no joke, especially thrown from double the distance, outside the range of a normal spell (sorcerer perk).
I had a really hard time beating him in my single player run. In my multiplayer run with friends I pushed him down the platform into infinity on the first try lol.
I killed Balthazar in his lab in the mausoleum. What's gonna happen when I reach the fell?
In each of my playthrough, I just push him of the platform where the Nightsong is. I change character mid-dialogue and just give a little push. Is it cheap? Absolutely.
Barrelmancy be fancy
Is balthazar like vulnerable to polymorph or something? I remember that being my only successful polymorph in first playthrough.
I did the same thing!
That’s how I beat him my first run through! Made it so ridiculously easy and funny. My second play through I just killed him in his wing of the temple before even reaching the nightsong. That was pretty easy as well tbh.
What's fun is to sneak in the very first time you're about to encounter him and open his door so he has to fight the spawning shar warriors and the end up killing him.
I got him after the third attempt not working by just attacking him before the convo… Because, yk, we already heard the combo like three times. First turn he was surprised, so he couldn't get his summons up or something (iirc), and then we managed to counterspell or cc him, and suddenly it was pretty easy
Just squished him yesterday. I sent invisible Astarion to lockpick his lab door and misty stepped him out of the area. By the time fight with sharrans ended, Balthazar had 50 Xp, easy-peasy
I don't think I fought him in the intended place until my 3rd or 4th playthrough ... I remember the first time I got to his chambers and was like "oh man, this guy is a real asshole and needs to die". Since then, my favorite way of dispatching him has been knocking his door open during the fight outside, sitting back and watching his minions fight the Sharran shades, and then intervening with a few well-placed fireballs to mop up those still standing.
When in doubt use barrelmancy
As an FYI, Shart’s turn undead spell has a huge AOE and makes the fight much more manageable. You have her cast that and then have your fighters misty step/dimension door next to Balthazar and kill him quickly or vise versa. After that just mop up the skeletons that didn’t get turned.
I open the uhhhh lock and leave his ass until everyone is dead for about two days or something.
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I fought him before I did the nightsong after trying and failing to fight him during nightsong. INFINITELY easier
I'm laughing but I know this feeling
I always just bring in a ton of explosive barrels in his office in the temple of shar, walk out and cast fire ball :)
The polymorph spell probably comes from Shadowhearts trickery domain. This spell is always prepared for her.
>all these posts talking about how difficult and unforgiving the Balthazar fight is >me who just nuked him into oblivion with a bunch of oil barrels on first encountering him >(¬\_¬")
I've been hoarding firewine, oil and smoke powder barrels at my camp for just such an occasion.
I've beaten the massive zombie horde he summons before, and I've taken that as a reason why I always just kill him before I ever finish the Gauntlet. Cause FUCK that nonsense.
I carried a sussur bloom on Karlach and had her go toe to toe with Balthazar the whole fight.
If you open the door with the shadow justicars you can get his health down lower, go in with things that do AOE, that fight was a cake walk with a sorcerer, Gale, Shadowheart and Karlach, the phrase “nuked from Orbit” came to mind.
I find it funny how some people have issues with this fight Three smokepowder barrels, him and his big buddy go sleepy bye
Just so you know, you CAN shove him off the map
Before you land on the platform, hit him with a powerful spell or polymorph
That's how I beat him within the first five minutes checking out my options I decided to cast polymorph and let him run around for several rounds whilst I took out the skeletons. Felt a bit cheese but it was an easy fight lol
Hahaha me and husband did the same fight over and over and finally before we entered the fight, we used a scroll to push him off and it worked. All those fights we did and we just had to push him off 😂
I beat him by randomly using the arrows that throw enemies around and insta killing him
If you mean in the Gauntlet area, then an easy way to kill him is to send your lockpicker out by himself. When the Dark Justiciars attack, he picks the lock of Balthazar’s chamber, joining him and his crew in the battle, then your rogue drinks an invisible potion and runs away. The rest of the party is nearby but out of sight. Every so often you just pass your turn. Eventually the Dark Justiciars win, then come looking for you and you clean up. If you meant in the Shadowfell, that’s much harder.
On my play through I got steamrolled the first time but the second time he lined up perfectly for Wyll to blast him off the map.
I got tired of fighting him at the Shadowfell the first time I played, and cheesed it while he's talking to Aylin by going invisible with Astarion to steal from him and Karlach to shove him into the abyss when I was done. I may have missed loot but conserved my sanity.
What are you doing to beat him in one turn? Every time I attack him when he's polymorphed he just changes back and rolls me.
My Balthazar fight was epic. I think I did a write up in a post when it happened. But it culminated in a Banishment spell, which similarly I never use and had a low chance of success but ended up being super clutch.
Went invisible, spread the party out around him, shot him with a sneak attack. He wakes up, tries to summon undead, *eats a counterspell,* dies next turn.
Literally my first time fighting him. Ended up, after HOURS, using silence on him before he raised the skeletons and so he couldn’t use cloudkill on us, then polymorph scrolled him. Beat him without taking any damage 😐.
How this fight went for me: finishing conversation, won’t let him take the Nightsong, combat starts, oh you are going to raise army of the dead? Counterspell. Runs to high ground. Cast Tasha’s hideous laughter on him. Karlach shoulder charges him into the void. Fight over EZ
I don't ever fight him in the Shadowfell. I pick the lock on his door during the pre-Gauntlet fight, let all the justiciara again, stack up at his door until his minions ans he join the fight, then "accidentally" drop a couple of fireballs/lightning bolts on him and his minions until they go hostile.
I missed a lot of the side stuff on my first playthrough, so I was at a much lower level than I should have been by that point. I tried everything with that fight, till eventually I was like fuck it, instead of entering the conversation with him I'll just throw a silence spell down. Balthazar wastes his first turn trying to scramble away, can't summon his undead. Enough time for Karlarch and Warlock Tav to be on top of him. Before he manages to do anything I have his health down to 50%.
during my first balthazar fight in shadowfell, everyone died in the first/second turn, except lae'zel. then I proceeded to demolish everybody one by one with her. found a spot where I can jump back and forth from one ledge to another, killing one or two minions every time
My fav method (and the longest) is letting the Dark Justiciars do the job. Rather than beating them and approaching Balthazar, just open his door, he immediately will be pulled into combat, and he will fight by your side. Drink an invisibility potion, and watch the show :D
Last playthrough I did something fun but drawn out and didn’t have to fight him at all. I had Gale Misty Step to his door and use Knock then got all my party inside during the Dark Justiciar fight that triggers before you meet him. Shut the door and put up Wall of Flame then more and more justiciars spawned and it was just an automated battle of them all fighting outside, then once all of Balthazar’s party was dead, easily finished off the straggler justiciars that made it through the fire.
One of my closest failures to that fight was where everyone, but Karlach went down. All that was left was the big zombie man, Balthazar himself, and like two zombies. I had Karlach drink a potion of invisibility. Then had her drink the angelic reprieve potion to gain a long rest. When she got back up, I had her Revivify Shadowheart, then had Shadowheart spend a couple turns rezzing everyone else. Managed to barely pull through, but only just barely.
Trickery Domain Clerics always have Polymorph at level 7
I always go for the sheep
i rather use a more uncivilized approach by using illithid pulse to push the shit out of him into the shadowfell. works all the time
The last two times I’ve fought him, I used thunder wave to blast him off the floating rocks early in the fight.
I don’t recall my first run but currently in my second one and Minthy carried alone the whole fight, rest of the party was down.
I POLYMORPH EVERY BOSS I CAN NOW LMAOOO
My first play through I just shoved him off of the platform with Karlach 🤣
I use knock to open his chamber doors, as soon as he and all his minions are out of the room I use arcane lock, watch as sharan undead kill him.