In Baldur's Gate 3 Gortash is one of the main antagonists of the game, with whom you can form an alliance. He is located in the fortress on Serpent Rock and keeps a Netherian stone with him. In this guide, you will find out where you can find the Archduke, how to defeat him, and whether it is worth forming an alliance with him.
Where to find Gortash in Baldur's Gate 3
How to get to the fortress on Snake Rock
After arriving in the vicinity of Baldur's Gate in Act 3, head north from Rivington until you reach the raised sliding bridge. After this, you will begin the task “Find the way to the fortress on Snake Rock.” This can be done in a variety of ways, from persuading the guards to stealing a pass in the Caresses of Shares. All of them are discussed in detail in our separate manual.
How to get to the Reception Hall
As soon as you go inside the fortress, one of the steel guards will stop you in the corridor, who will inform you that you will be punished for trespassing. Suddenly, Gortash himself will take control of the mechanism, and he will invite you to his coronation. Already here you can threaten to kill Enver or immediately attack his robots. However, we strongly do not recommend doing this before turning off the mechanical defenders, since the battle in this case will be extremely difficult. Plus, you will fail several missions (more on that below).
After completing the conversation, open the door on the right, and then another one to enter the Reception Hall. Walk forward along the red carpet to the throne, near which Gortash and Duke Ravengard will stand. Then a cutscene will begin, during which Karlach will offer to attack Enver. You can calm her down with Persuasion or Will's arguments (if he is in the party) or agree with her and attack.
Again, we do not recommend attacking Gortash now, since there are a bunch of regular and mechanical guards in the throne room, so the battle will be extremely difficult. So wait until the monologue ends and then chat with Enver.
Kill Gortash or form an alliance with him
What will happen if you enter into an alliance with Gortash
So, during the dialogue with the Archduke, he will offer you a deal: you will not interfere with him and his steel guards, and he, in turn, will leave you alone, that is, the Fire Fists and Iron Guards will no longer get in your way when exploring the city. You can make an Insight or Detect Thoughts check (13) to see that Gortash is willing to keep his word.
Gortash will also want you got rid of Orin. Even if you do not enter into an alliance with the Archduke just yet, he will tell you everything about the faceless one in your camp and tell you where you can find a follower of Baal. At the end of the conversation, he will ask you to attend his coronation. If you plan to maintain a good relationship with him, then we advise you to agree.
Note: If an alliance is concluded with Gortash, the scale of approval from Karlach will decrease significantly, so start or continue the romance it will be much more difficult with her.
Now get the Netherian stone Orin, having dealt with her in the temple of Bhaal, and return to Gortash in the fortress. He will say that he is ready to rule the city with us. You can try an Insight (15) check to see that he is truly willing to share the kingdom with you. Then Enver will ask you to give him all the stones. If you agree, he will immediately attack us, considering us weak-willed. Therefore, you will need to refuse him twice.
Gortash will advise you to keep the stones for yourself, and then meet him at the Pond of Changes in order to take control of the Elder Brain. The presence of this ally will somewhat simplify the final confrontation. Go to the indicated area and find Enver there. Then, together with him, summon the Netherian Brain, which will almost immediately finish off Gortash, that is, it is impossible to save him.
Note: Please note that when concluding and maintaining an alliance with Gortash, you will need to refuse to complete quests "Save the Gondians", "Avenge the Iron Hand Clan" And "Disable the Steel Guard", thereby losing a large amount of experience and loot. Plus, you won't be allowed to approach Enver's parents in the Lower City, and you won't receive equipment that drops from his corpse after losing a battle.
What happens if you attack Gortash
As we noted above, you can attack Gortash almost immediately after arriving at the fortress on Snake Rock. You can do this in the Reception Hall before the coronation is complete, but if the Steel Guard is active, this boss fight will be incredibly difficult.
The Archduke will instantly become hostile towards you if you categorically refuse an alliance with him, so we advise you to first listen to his proposal and then say that you will think about it. In this case, you will still receive several hints related to Orin, and you can choose the time of the fight with Gortash yourself.
The main thing is not to try to talk to him in his personal chambers without bringing him the Niterian stone of Bhaal's servant, since in this case he will attack you.
Note: Concluding an alliance with Gortash does not impose any obligations on you, that is, you can calmly break the agreement without receiving any debuffs for it.
We advise you not to enter into an alliance with the Archduke, but also not to try to confront him immediately after arriving at the fortress. Say you'll consider his offer and then prepare to kill him. This will allow you to complete additional tasks and pick up good loot from Gortash’s corpse. Next, we will tell you in detail how to most easily defeat him.
How to defeat Gortash in Baldur's Gate 3
Disable the steel guard
The first thing you need to do is destroy the foundry in the Lower City to stop the production of mechanical guards and disable the existing robots. To do this, you will need to complete the tasks listed above. It will not be possible to secretly destroy the plant, that is, if you entered into an alliance with Enver and then violate the terms of the deal, he will immediately become hostile towards you.
If you defeat Gortash without disabling his steel guards, the Elder Brain will take control of all the robots and destroy the foundry. The remaining mechanical defenders will be under his control. It will no longer be possible to complete quests with the Gondians and Dwarves of the Iron Hand.
Tactics of the battle with Gortash
If the foundry is destroyed, the entire fortress on Snake Rock will become hostile towards you. Let us first show you the whole way to Gortash. Enter the main hall and fight the fists here. Then move to the Reception Hall and deal with the Iron Consul and other guards.
Exit to the open area and climb the wooden platforms and stairs to the top floor to reach the private quarters. Here a new dialogue with Gortash will begin. You'll see a couple of extra lines if you have Karlach in your squad. In any case, the battle will begin.
In addition to Enver, you will also need to defeat his lieutenants: the black right hand of the Catch, as well as the iron consuls Jaxbok and Lo, who are able to apply “Aura of Terror” and “Bane’s Order” to each other, which gives them the ability to cause the “Frightened” status and inflict additional damage. Try to cast Silence on them to prevent them from using said spells, then send a melee character towards them to prevent them from leaving the sphere and throw area of effect spells at them.
However, lieutenants are not the only obstacle to pay attention to in this battle. Grenade Throwers and Incinerators will throw grenades at your characters and release flames in the first phase, and in the second, Gortash will summon the Hand of Shadow, which will strike the ground, knocking the characters to the ground. So stay away from the walls, kill the Archduke's minions quickly and beware of the hand's attacks.
Fallen grenades do not explode immediately, so when you see a red circle on the ground demonstrating the radius of the impending explosion, try to pick up the bomb, putting it in your inventory (the bomb will not explode there), and then use “Throw” to throw it at Enver or his minions .
Let's add that throughout the battle Gortash will receive various power-ups, one of them sends all the projectiles back to the enemies, so under no circumstances try to kill him with long-range attacks while you see the orange barrier on him. In this case, only melee attacks will work. He also has the Shell of Resilience buff, which increases resistance to elemental damage, so throwing grenades at him at this moment is not worth it, as they will still do little damage to him.
How to quickly kill Gortash
If you don't want to deal with Gortash's traps and minions, then you can lure him to the roof of the fortress. To do this, go to the Archduke's chambers, but do not approach him yet. Instead, jump or fly onto the wooden platform (X: -20, Y: 193) near the southern wall of the fortress. Then climb the stairs to the very top of the tower.
Pick the lock on the double doors with a sleight of hand check (15). Go inside and interact with the lever to lower the ladder down. Now order the whole team to climb up.
Leave one hero below and use it to provoke Gortash. Next, run to your group on the second floor. Enver will run after you. You will be able to attack him from above while he is climbing towards you. In this case, you will not need to worry about grenades and other traps. When the enemies rise, they will all be in one pile, so they can be hit with AoE attacks.
After Gortash's death, do not forget to examine his corpse to pick up valuable things: a glove with a Netherian stone, tyrannical boots, ruler's clothes and a factory crossbow. The characteristics of the equipment can be studied in the pictures below.
Once you pick up the glove, you will automatically remove the stone from it, thus completing the quest "Get the Netherian Stone of Gortash" in Baldur's Gate 3.
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