And it still is a pain in the ass...

I played it once, when it cames out and rage quit on Nere's fight, triggered mad by the poor panel of choices and the insane difficulty of the encounter. I mean, the map is beautifull, I just loved the exploration part with secret door, moving platform and everything, but the hell! How am I supposed to deal with the boss encounter with a 4 members party size at level 4 ?! Even with speed potion I spend half of my actions resurrecting those who were killed just before. How is that supposed to be a fun fight ?
This time I tried to sneak to the forge. I was very proud to find all these clues talking about how you can use the hammer to defeat the golem. And I was saying to myself that, in fact, there is a trick. Maybe you can use the hammer to easily defeat the golem, then use the forge and improve your stuff and maybe, that will be enough to resolve Nere's encounter. I like this kind of mechanics by the way : be confronted to a very hard/impossible fight with an easy trick hidden somewhere.

So here I was, trying to defeat the Golem. I put two characters under invisibility, open lava valve with the third, and use the last one to focus the golem attention and brought it under the hammer. Use one of the hidden character to pull the lever and BIM! The golem lost more than half of its amount of life points. Nice, I thought, I just had to do it again one more time (or maybe two, because, you know, dice roll) and done. I did it, 3 or 4 times. All the sequence : agro, lava, bring it under the hammer, smash it with lava up. For all these tries, the amount of life points lost by the golem was... 0! It just didn't work anymore. Just like that, worked one time, and after that all physic laws introduced before were down. So tell me ? Is it something I did ? (Maybe lava up is not the only condition). Is it a bug ? Or is it just some sadist GM decision ? Because at this point it's not a simple difficulty adjustement. In a game a rule is a rule. If hammer and lava can injure a golem one time, it must injure it the other times. And if not, a logical and clear explanation have to exist. And if there is in this case an explanation I did'nt see, I'd like to know how this state can explain why a huge hammer and lava amount can not deal damage to a golem while my simple sword and arrows can.

So well, Grymforge is still a huge disappointment for me guys. I'll try to watch some video to find a way to pass it without being completely disgusted by the game. But if you have suggestion to help me you are more than welcome!

I have a pretty different view on all of that. I don't think it's fair to rate all of Grymforge on one boss encounter especially when it's pretty easily skipped.

I also disagree that the combat is what makes grymforge unfun. Personally I hate the exploring there with all the traps and weird gimmicks to get around. It might be your cup of tea but personally I like the challenge primarily from combat not from the environment. Maybe I would change my mind if the party movement was easier to manage.

Also in regards to the hammer working only once, a better point to me would be that you feel you have to use it at all. Otherwise, I have no problem with a strange and artificial barrier keeping you from cheesing a boss into oblivion. This sort of thing happens in most games and while BG3 could always be better, it is better in this regard that 90% of games out there.

First of all I didn't play much of Grymforge since it first released, so my info might be out of date:

I don't remember it being particularly challengine EXCEPT for the instant death pits - as long as half of my party wouldn't get shoved into lava through a distance of an entire width of my screen (exaduration, but not by much) it was fine. So usual strategy - huddle in a corder as far from lava as possible and everything will be just fine.


That is odd. Sounds to me more like a bug then intentional design - in general Larian doesn't seem against stuff like that. When I fought him way back I didn't figure out hammer trick - he seems to aggro at first character who attacks him. I used it to pingpong him between ranged characters without him actually getting to either of them.


I will agree with you there. I overall like design of grymforge, but I find controls too clunky to not find enviroment frustrating. Jumping around just isn't fun, jumping my party isn't fun, my party memeber triggering traps when I tell them to disarm them isn't fun. Overall the area felt very unfinished to me - I hope it will get major uplift when the game is complete.

Did you check to see if the golem had the superheated condition before using the hammer?

Also, the Nere fight is difficult, but it's doable. Personally, I enjoy the challenging fights. You mentioned watching some videos to see how others approach the fight. I think that's a good idea. It might help you with your next playthrough. One thing I would definitely suggest would be concentrating on the mind duergar early, removing them as fast as possible.

There is too many things that can go Wrong in Nere fight ...
I remember when i was there with my first Barbarian ... perfectly equipped, leveled, whole EA done, this fight was the only thing left ... and it was soooo freaking easy. My barbarian activated Frenzy and litteraly obliterated those damn Dwarves, there was no round where i didnt kill at least one ...

So i was confident in my second playthrough ... and i get there sooner A LOT sooner.
Lets just say i was obliterated this time.

Shoves, mind controls, quite significant superiority in numbers, and all those extra attacks ...
And to top it all in at least half of my atempts Gnomes joined my enemies, bcs some random gnome run into some random flame on the ground ... that was especialy frustrating.

So ... yeah, agree with JandK ... its dificiult, but doable ... unless you underestimate them.
And if you do ... you are screwed.

You can recruit both the dwarves and the gnomes to fight Nere to even the odds

Most annoying thing was blowing up the wall as gnomes kept running into the flames after and aggroed.
That took a lot of reloading, placing the explosion in a far corner so the fire wouldn't be in their running path.

I used Chromatic Orbs, the Thunder variety. Required maybe 1-2 reloads, but yes, it drained Gale almost completely.

Tip: If you use "bomb" (that what gives Force Damage) there will be no fires.

Oh yes, I forgot about that. I turned out turn based mode and put down the flames to avoid it. Systemic design is good, but one needs to be careful that scripting doesn't trigger undesired systemic effect.

I loved Grymforge!

Tried it for the first time during Patch 8, as I try to pace myself on new content. My run breaks down into four parts. [Every spoiler from here on out.]

Overall, I enjoyed the dicovery, the challenge and the change of pace when looking for the forge.

It makes me wonder how much replay value I’ll get from BG3 if I can only find that sense of wonder when discovering a new map.

Edit: suggestions for the Nere fight.

Hi guys !

So I finally finish Grymforge, using some of your advices, thank you so munch for that !!

"l I like the challenge primarily from combat not from the environment"

> In fact, I like both. My problem is more that I'm not really fond of Larian battle system especially when a lot of mobs are involved. For example I liked the hag or the spider matriarch encounter munch more. If I could improve Nere's fight, I'd probably choose to decrease stats of most of the duerguars and improve that of Nere and the two duerguar leaders to quickly lead players to a situation where they only have to fight 3 more difficult ennemies.

"Also in regards to the hammer working only once, a better point to me would be that you feel you have to use it at all. "

> I dont see it as a problem. In Rpg most of the encounters will be regular ones. Having one of them that will oblige some players to use a trick if they are not fully optimized is OK. More of that, in a role playing state of view having to use something else than your equipment and abilities to defeat an adamantine golem at low level is more than OK. It's a good appreciation of what an adamantine golem really is. (I think at least, my rp past is faaaar away from me now)


"Did you check to see if the golem had the superheated condition before using the hammer?"

> OMG that was that! I was so convinced that I need lava up to deal damage that I always trigger the hammer just after releasing it and never give to the golem the time to put a finger in it ! Thank you !! It is so logical, metal have to be hot to be efficiently hit! Yep I really liked this little mechanic ! It's a welcome change in the boss encounter routine!

I digress. I want the game to have all kinds of encounters, large battles, small focused ones, single boss fights - you name it. Otherwise some spells and mechanics will be much less needed, Like a quickened spelled dual Shatter. If a single one kills them all then there's no point for that. A lot of battles maybe seem diffuclt the first time, but as you play through the game more they become easy. Also straight forward battles shouldn't always be the given solution. In this case the Nere fight can be made really easy if you make the right dialogue choices. You choose the worst choice from a combat perspective and then you want it changed? Change the way you ineteract in dialogues instead. If you have a chance to get an ally and turn it down, it is your own choice to make it harder than it needs to be.

Don't forget that whe game's out you will most likely be level 5 in that encounter as well. It will make it so much easier (unfortunately, as I like the challenge).

Think i reloaded once to do the nere fight. Was fun and ya a bit challenging. I’d say its about right though.

I just replayed through it with a rogue. I went straight there before doing the goblins. The companions I used were Laezel, Shadowheart, and Astarion. I got help from some of the duergar.

The fight was super easy this time around. I think getting that extra help makes a huge difference.

Which is probably as it should be.

I know some players think D&D is about "resource management" and CR ratings producing "challenging" encounters, but that is a really limited view of what comprises a RPG. A good RPG should offer many options to explore ( literally and metaphorically ), and choosing between those options should definitely impact how the game plays, including making conbat more difficult, less difficult, or avoiding it altogether.

Even awareness of environmental factors should be present in a good RPG; unfortunately barrelmancy sometimes makes a ( vicious? ) mockery of what should be a thoughtfully applied option.

Personally I liked Grymforge a lot, so I will not be disappointed to see the rest of the game developed in a similar vein.

I reserved criticism for the area and story of Grymforge because it was added a bit into EA and hasn't had much time to be revised. The area is underwhelming and the progression of the story isn't altogether clear there.

Cool vid, but when soloing, the key is to not let Grym have a turn

My only problem with Grymforge is how the characters just waltz into lava when auto-pathing sometimes, or how when you make a jump and your party members follow you, someone always, inevitably, falls in the damn lava, and there's no way to get them out because when you help them they just fall again, and there's no corpse to resurrect when they die, so it's back to Withers. That also happens when you go into the upper levels of the Grymforge. You make a jump, the next party member makes the jump, and the last two plummet to their deaths because they tried to follow but didn't make the jump for some reason or glitched out. I used more resurrections from characters out of my control plummeting to their deaths or melting in lava because of a jump or a path than anywhere else in the game... by a lot. Very annoying when they'll easily die from that but refuse to go over a burning patch or poison cloud. I have a similar problem with pathing and the flame traps as well.

Other than this, I actually liked the Grymforge a lot. The Golem was a satisfying challenge in turning the lava on and keeping distance at certain times to either wear it down with a hammer and Thunder magic, or to try to lure it to the hammer when superheated (which I eventually did, but it would be nice if there were clearer ways to accomplish said luring, like duplicity or illusion). I like fights that make you use your head on strategies beyond just "How do I incapacitate or damage you each turn." Luring, positioning, environmental changing, and using features of the environment themselves are fun ways to introduce a bit of thought to combat. And big boss fights can make that a thoughtful process. I can't say the same of the Nere fight, which plays just like the three Goblin boss fights. But I did like bringing his head to Spaw, who is my boy.

Not a fan of Boss fights but fine, they are a part of RPG history. Pretty much enjoyed everything about Grymforge but baffled by the Gnomes reaction when I fight the Drow and Dark Dwarfs. With one of my party running across the area on flames and another about to be impaled by an irate Duergar, I overheard two of the Gnomes having a warm reunion and cementing their re-found relationship. Would have preferred they pick up a pickaxe and caved a few Dwarf skulls... Just saying.

I was running a mode that pulled the level 4 cap. Level 5+ makes a huge difference (getting those 2nd attacks).

I didn't even have to blow the place up with barrels!


If they haven't unlocked level 5+ in this patch...they need to. How else can most people even preview the content?

There is a way to deal with nere.. kill all the duergar before opening the rock. Like starting at the stairs, the furthest from neres imprisonment. Lots of duergar will have to travel far to reach you giving you time to kill those that are the closest.

Only once all duergar are dead open the blockage, then nere is easy.

i guess without the max level 4 cap you can be 5 or 6 at this fight.