Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Help Me With a New Run

Alright I'm coming here because I'm starting a new playthrough for the first time in a couple patches and I really don't have much patience for this game, so I'm coming here to ask for as much help as I can get. So I have a few questions in advance that I'd love advice on.

Firstly, is there a way I can rescue Halsin and save the grove without aggroing the entire goblin hideout? Specifically Razglin, it seems like there's no way to kill him that doesn't get the whole camp hostile, but maybe that's been fixed in the latest patch?

Aunt Ethel. What's the best, least tedious way to kill her and save Mayrina?

Once I've gotten through the goblin camp and into that underground section that connects to the underdark, how do I get through the locked gate? I got there before and could not figure out how to get through the gate. That's what made me give up my last run.

I've never seen any underdark content at all so please, give me advice for any and all of it. I don't care about spoilers, I just want to try and have a good time. If I have any other specific questions, I'll ask them specifically. Thanks in advance folks.

You cant save Halsin with out the agro
I dont really bother with Auntie Ethel but you can throw a sleep potion on her and knock her off pretty easily
Theres a lever for the gate but make sure you shoot the crystal ( or whatever it is thats glowing ) first
As for the underdark your main concerns are the Bulette and the 2 Minotaurs
Grym Forge I have no idea really as I generally quit then so I have something left of Act 1 to look forward to upon full release

First
Nope ... Ragzlin death turn whole camp hostile there is no way around it ...
The only way to diminish this effect is either poison Goblins outside, wich drasticaly lower their numbers and HP.
OR
Fast travel out after you kill Ragzlin (presuming he was last leader to kill) to avoid them an never return.

Second
Invisibility + Shove ... still 100%

Besides that ...
Magic Missile to destroy her clones ... remember that Poisoner's robe is buged this patch and adds damage to EVERYTHING ...
So Magic Missile can do 1d4+1 Force + 1d4 Psychic (neckage) + 1d4 Poison (robe) + 1 OR 1d8 (staff, depends on charges) and maaaaaaaybe +1 (ring ... but i didnt try this) ...
So i strongly dont recomend using it on Marina clone.

Third
You can destroy moonstone that statue in the middle holds that disables the trap ... carefull tho, there will be minotaur attacking the gate and if you disable it too soon he will reward you by trying to kill you.
OR
While you are facing the gate, have stairs behind you, once you reach the statue simply went to the left ... one window is missing.

I'm interested in that too, because I've only played up to the Goblin Camp so far. (It also tired me until then to proofread all the German texts and to report mistakes and the Patch 8 bugs discouraged me to going on with this).

Gray are you still waiting for Patch 9 or do you start right away with the old Patch 8?

Hopefully there is a Patch 9 in the next couple of weeks? That is why I am struggling to start a new playthrough...

I'm starting with Patch 8. I haven't actually played it, and I don't think I played patch 7 either for that matter. And since there's no guarantee of a patch 9 anytime soon, I don't wanna wait.

Thanks for the advice on combat from folks so far. I'll just make sure to kill Ragzlin last. Any advice on taking on Minthara? Especially how to destroy the warning drum without alerting suspicion.

Also, can someone remind me how to access the spellbook for magic users? For the longest time, until I read about it on the forum, I had no idea I could change wizard or cleric spells outside of levelling up.

@ Gray good luck and have fun then with Patch 8.

@ Everyone else: What happens if you attack the Goblins but attack the Goblin leaders last is that possible or are they all hostile anyway?

Are there no "area zones" that remain neutral? For example, if I kill everyone outside, are everyone inside automatically hostile? What if I only kill the sleeping Gobbos upstairs outside, are the revelers downstairs also all hostile?

If it would be couple of weeks, Larian would be allready teasing us ... they usualy anounce PFH coming at least 2 weeks in advance.

So i would dare to say that right now, it would be safe to presume that patch 9 is at least a Month away.

Nope ...
The only way is to fake your intention to join her assault and betray her at the gate, where the fight is quite easy ... but its quite easy even where she is ...

As for the drum ... im affraid there is no way to destroy it without her noticing ... maybe if you would cast there Silence and/or Fog mist? Not sure really tho ...
I never cared about those drums to be honest, since no Goblin ever managed to get close to them.

If you open your character, in top left corner you see small button looking like open book, thats it.

Not if you dont get caught ...
If someone notices you, they yell alert, if not, you are free to assassinate as much goblins as you can.

Unless things have changed in the last patches, how I have done this area should still be valid.

You should be able to disguise yourself as or play as a drow and get into the hideout without issue. You don't have to fight any of the goblins outside if you use fast travel and don't plan on coming back to the area. If you really want to, then you can poison the cauldron to help weaken them (think you have to pass a speech check if they catch you) but don't bother with them anymore until you are done with the inside. Once inside, start killing from the back and work your way out.

The room with Minthara can be taken care of without alerting the rest of the place, usually my party stays on top of the walls and snipes everyone with use of crowd control spells to keep everyone in the room. I feel like there was a chest or barrel up there that helped block enemy hits, but this may have changed.

Priestess Gut can be taken care of in a similar manner. If you pretend to go along with her suggestion to get her into the side room, there is a way to also get your party on the rafters if you want here as well. Silence is useful here, also use Chill Touch cantrip to prevent healing. Clearing this area will bring in some of the adds and also the vendor unfortunately, set area spells by the doorways so they have to walk through them to get to you.

I would recommend doing these first two parts before rescuing Halsin because he doesn't understand the concept of stealth and infiltration.

The last section you should have to fight is Razglin's area. Again, rafters are great, just don't clump up your party (never do this anyway) because some of the goblins here like to use acid. There are two chandeliers that can be shot down in this room, try to have something flammable under them like Web or Grease for more effect.

There are ladders in some of the areas that you can destroy to make it harder for enemies to get to you. If you find that they start swarming the main ladder that can't be destroyed, then throw down Grease or something to get them in a clump then use AoE spells to take them out.

All my suggestions are from someone who hates melee combat so please take this into consideration. I am sure there is some sort of shove cheese that can be done with the pit, but never tried it myself.

Yes there is! (I'd put a spoiler tag here, but the whole thread is a spoiler.)

Talk your way into the goblin camp, head straight for Minthara and tell her where the druid grove is. Take a long rest, then go to the grove and talk to Zevlor. When Minthara shows up, betray her. After the battle, Halsin just shows up at the grove, having saved himself.

That's the fastest way I know to save Halsin. Ragzlin and Gut won't be dead and you'll need to find another way to the underdark if you don't want to face a hostile goblin camp head-on. I think the easiest path is sneaking through the spider lair in turn based mode and Feather Falling down the chasm.

The underdark is scary because everything wants to push you into the abyss. Both merchants in the mushroom circle have some good loot to sell, including the Saphire Spark which is a must-buy if any of your casters know Magic Missile.

Edit :
I'm not sure what you mean by the first question, but the answer to the other two is no and no. Only killing Ragzlin will trigger the wrath of every goblin in the camp. Otherwise, they need to catch you in the act (killing or otherwise) to be angry at you. (The weird exception being that the goblins outside will immediately suspect your party and turn hostile if you poison the booze.)

If I recall correctly, there are three ways into the Underdark, jumping down from the spider lair, the chapel ladder, and the elevator in the Zhentarim base. There's also a teleportation circle in Ethel's but I'm not sure it works without getting there from the Underdark first. You can also leave the abandoned fortress through a broken window and work your way around the side to the Drow statues, if you don't feel like destroying a priceless artefact...It belongs in a museum!.

Speaking of Ethel, the most stress free way of getting Ethel for me, is taking her down before she even leaves the hut, with some control and a little luck it's possible. That Ethel fight has been one of the more annoying for me so I understand you, it was often bugged too which didn't help.

First, I'd advise paying/persuading the ogre leader in Blighted Village to aid you. You'll get his horn, and you can use this horn three times (he'll demand payment after each fight, so keep at least 500 gold on you if you use it). It's VERY handy in the goblin camp, for example in the fight against Boss Ragzlin and the goblins drinking in the courtyard. I always use the horn for two fights: 1. Boss Ragzlin, 2. Goblin courtyard goblins. 3. Githyanki patrol fight if ability checks fail. DON'T use it against Ethel, though. Dunno if it's a bug or not, but it will turn Mayrina hostile if you use it in the fight (the ogre leader does say they'll eat anyone not part of your party when you get the horn...).

Also, near Minthara there is a goblin drum. Drums attract more goblins, so always make sure drums get destroyed before a fight. Turn the lights out to decrease detection. Then destroy it. Then go the room next to her room, the one that leads to Halsin... and destroy the drum there. You'll lose approval with the goblins there... but, meh, either bribe them or persuade them. You can always get your bribe money back from their corpse later. You can convince the goblin priestess to examine you in her own room. She will ask you to follow. Do so. Once you arrive in her room, close the door. Then talk to her, and tell her you'll kill her. At best she'll get five weak goblins in, but if you, Gale or Shadowheart have the Silence Spell, and you have the first turn before her.... cast silence on her and she can't scream for help. Easy to kill without her spells (just have your spellcasters run out of the spell's area of effect to damage her).

Fight against Ethel: Make sure you are or have a wizard or sorcerer in that fight or anyone else who can shoot magic missiles to dispel Ethel's duplicates. Have either Astarion or Laezel dmg her, and make sure they got one haste potion (don't overuse those, gonna need them in the Underdark, so just one). If she makes it to third or fourth turn, she'll teleport Mayrina down from the cage and create another illusion where one is Ethel disguised as Mayrina, and the other is Mayrina. This can potentially lead you to killing Mayrina. The real Mayrina says a line that includes "evil hag!". Hit the other one.

To get past gate when you first arrive in the Underdark, first destroy the glowing crystal with a ranged weapon or spell. Then there's a lever on the right side of the gate facing inwards. Just hit that.

In the Underdark, two fights in particular will be frustrating. A fight against a beast that springs from the ground, hits extremely hard, and will flee (potentially multiple times throughout the map) as soon as it gets to about 50% hp. You'll know it comes when the ground starts to shake. For this fight, you will need haste potions (one on each party member), a priest with the Halt spell (who should ONLY use that spell for entire fight), and lots of dmg dealt fast. Cast Halt each turn, once it gets close to 50% hp, then pop haste pots untill you dps it to death.

Second big fight in UD is a massive fight, even more challenging than the boss Ragzlin fight. Best way to defeat that boss (Nere) is by first infiltrating, rather than fighting your way into, the temple across the Underdark lake, then doing a quest for two duegar that will be whispering once you past them. Do that, and they and half the duegar will join your fight.

Third big UD fight is the Adamantite Golem. Hit the lava switch to make it vulnerable (lava flows away periodically, so have to click on lava switch couple of times), then lure it into the center with the mega-hammer... then pull the lever to smash it. To lure it, make a mental note of an X. Center of X is where hammer strikes. Have one party member stand on each of the four corners, then ONE party member shoots at it with a missile weapon/spell. That aggros the golem, and it will change direction towards the attacker.

Just don't fight goblins at all is probably your best option to free the druid.

Example let's say your character is a warlock with 16 charisma... Will can step in if needed,

Spoilers
Step 1, at the village where the gnome is tied to a wind mill talk the ogers into fighting for you instead... Offer them money or loot the dead, (kill the goblins or just ignore them

Step two summon your imp ( turn him invisible) and send him off to discover the summoning stone in the golblin camp... Teleport to that stone bypassing the guards

Step 3, go upstairs where the drinks are sleeping it off and the wall is cracked, blast it with force magic i.e, your cantrip to open the way into the goblin stronghold... Once inside you are up in the roof above every one, explore to find the drow cleric getting ready to attack druids

Step four, talk to her and tell her where the druid camp is, Agee to help rape / kill druids and she sets off to get ready

At this point you can leave goblins area and never need to return... It's nice loot but not needed to move the story along

Optional go down the well back in the windmill village to kill spider Queen (orgers can help if you want) and cast feather fall to drop down to the underdark... Invisible characters work best down there to unlock summoning stones but that's another thread

Step 5, return to druid grove and drop a few barrels of oil/ explosives around the front gate .. it's the same area you fight the golbins when you first arrived at the druid grove

Step 6 talk to Zeb tell the drow are coming but agree to help, rest and she shows up saying open the gate to begin the battle... Pick which side you want to fight but I'll assume saving druids... She will stay on the hill sending troops at the gate, blow them up then kill her last or push her into a trap , once this battle is won the druid boss auto shows up saying he got himself out

Just figured that the gate you mention is probably the one that requires you to solve a puzzle to open. I didn't understand that puzzle at all. There is secret lever (need character with decent points in Detection) above the stone bench just to the right of that gate, if you want to skip it. To solve the puzzle (which gives Sage background Tav or Gale an inspiration point) you should do a google search with this seach term: Baldur's Gate 3, Defiled Temple moon puzzle. Should be a link to a Polygon article. That's the solution to the puzzle. Either option opens the gate.

as PlugUglies points out the locked gate is the one down in the underdark fort... you unlock it with the lever but there is also a window you can climb out and the gate defence system will kill anyone if you don't break[ or just remove] the power crystal first

i point out it kills anyone because there are some hard fights down here and you may want to lure things into this trap

Thanks so much for all the advice so far, it's gonna be super helpful. For my first new question of the run; how do you open the chest in the owlbear cave that's guarded by the selunite seal? I've figured out some kind of prayer is needed, but I don't know how to make that happen.

You need to read the prayer behind the statue and then you go back to the chest and read it again while standing next to it.

I don't know if you actually need to pass the religion check, as I never tried opening it after failing the check.

Yes Crimson is right:

make sure to have Shadowheart in your party when you open it

Or you can be a cleric of Selune and just automatically be able to open it

Whaaaaaaaat?

You serious?
Cleric of Selune is able to steal offering to her Goddess?

I have new adept to most ridiculous situation in game.