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Jun 19, 2024

Lone wolf destroys Baldur's Gate 3's toughest boss in two turns with nothing but a bow, a bag of busted magic items, and D&D's least flashy class

That still only counts as one. Before I get elbow-deep into the gamer grease of this build and boss fight—heads up, the video below contains major spoilers for an Act 3 dungeon. I knew it. While I've

That still only counts as one.

Before I get elbow-deep into the gamer grease of this build and boss fight—heads up, the video below contains major spoilers for an Act 3 dungeon.I knew it. While I've written about some busted min-maxing shenanigans before, I knew it'd only be a matter of time before someone pushed Baldur's Gate 3 even further. Gamers and tabletop players are drawn to power builds like moths to a flame. Like this player, who you can watch chew through 666 hit points of devil below (the fight starts at around 4 minutes).

Baldur's Gate 3 guide: Everything you needBaldur's Gate 3 tips: Be preparedBaldur's Gate 3 classes: Which to chooseBaldur's Gate 3 multiclass builds: Coolest combos Baldur's Gate 3 romance: Who to pursueBaldur's Gate 3 co-op: How multiplayer works

The fight, posted to Youtube by Thorusin (who has a whole host of other wild shenanigans on their channel) is accomplished by a fighter, which feels significant for anyone familiar with Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition's ruleset.

For those out of the loop, there's a power disparity between late-game "martial" classes (classes that aren't full spellcasters, such as Fighters, Rogues, and Monks) and their weave-wielding brethren. It's the natural result of giving your party wizard access to spells like Meteor Swarm, which does exactly what it sounds like. Meanwhile, Fighters can… hit things with their big sword some more.

Granted, they're very good at it. A level 20 fighter in D&D can pump out 4 attacks in a turn (8 with action surge), but when that's put next to warping reality, it starts feeling a touch thin. There was some concern this story would repeat itself in Baldur's Gate 3, even though it only goes to level 12—with spellcasters getting access to spells like Chain Lightning and Disintegrate. So watching a player clown on the game's harshest fight with D&D's least flashy class makes me very happy.

They accomplish this with a few key magic items—firstly, the legendary bow Gontr Mael. This +3 killer lets you cast Haste on yourself (giving Thorusin an extra three attacks) and also grants a chance to apply the Guiding Bolt debuff on a target for free advantage. They also use the Amulet of Branding, which makes a target vulnerable to a physical damage type for three turns, causing them to take double the hurt.

This gets coupled with an Arrow of Fiend Slaying on poor Raphael, the boss-slash-victim here, who has been paralysed with a dose of Crawler Mucus Poison. Using the Killer's Sweetheart ring for a guaranteed crit, Thorusin's second point-blank shot between the devil's eyes deals 122 damage. This is their second out of nine attacks (three standard, three from haste, three from action surge) on their opening turn, by the way.

By the time they've finished their first turn, Raphael is left with a piddly 80 hit points out of 666 and is paralysed, unable to act when his turn comes. What follows is a complete massacre as Thorusin mops up the room with the Arrow of Many Targets, letting them pump their six attacks into Raphael's cambion army. Who needs a wizard when you've got an action surge, haste, and an armoury of powerful magical arrows in your quiver? Not Thorusin, apparently. Legolas needs to up his game.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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