Summary
The final battle ofBaldur’s Gate 3certainly pulls no punches. You’ll have to face Mind Flayer mages, clones of your party members, artillery fire, a seemingly endless supply of tentacles, and, as if all that wasn’t enough, a dominated Red Dragon. And killing all of them isn’t even the goal of the fight, since your real target is the Netherbrain.
No, to win, you’ll have to take your designated Illithid ally to the Crown of Karsus and have them channel for a whole turn without being interrupted. Once they begin channeling, every enemy (especially the Dragon) will attempt to target them to stop it. And that’s only to open a portal to the Netherbrain’s real health bar. To help you in the battle, you should take some of these sound strategies so you can see the end of the game safe and sound.
Updated July 27, 2025 by Alfredo Robelo:Defeating the Netherbrain is still a challenge for many players, and Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out for quite a while at this point. But that also means more strategies for coping with this final fight have been discovered. We’ve updated this article to include a few more ways on how to tackle this boss.
8Sacrifice Gale
Make Sure To Put Him In Your Party
While not the most noble of strategies, it does count as beating the game, granting all associated achievements and all. This has to dowith Gale’s storyand the Netherstone he holds deep within his chest. The goddess of magic tasked Gale to utilize its destructive power to annihilate the Netherbrain, also killing Gale in the process.
While tragic, it’s also effective, but it does require Gale to be in your party. If he isn’t, you’ll have to reload a save from before you sailed to face the Absolute. Fortunately, you can skip a lot of it with a single character, simply triggering the next Cutscene by turning your scout invisible and having them rush forward.
7Side With The Emperor
Otherwise, You’ll Have To Fight Him
The story ramifications for who to side with at the end of Baldur’s Gate 3 are many, but what we care about here is who gives you an easier time when dealing with the final battle. While Orpheus or the Emperor are both equally strong, they don’t offer the same advantages in the long run.
You see, when you side with the Emperor, he consumes Orpheus so he can continue protecting you from the Netherbrain’s influence. If you side with Orpheus instead, the Emperor will feel betrayed and ditch you for the Netherbrain, essentially adding another powerful opponent for the final battle on top of everything else.
6Use Hold Monster On The Dragon
The Bigger They Are, The Better The Hold
The Red Dragon in the middle of the arena will become your main problem, whether you’re trying to rush past everyone or leave none alive. For either strategy, casting Hold Monster on it will prevent it from taking any action for the duration of the effect. If you’re just trying to get to the Crown, casting Hold Monster just before the channel begins is the ideal timing.
If you’re aiming to slay the Dragon, Hold Monster is still your best friend since any hits done to it at close range are guaranteed criticals. Do keep in mind that approaching the Dragon will likely summon several tentacles, so try to avoid walking whenever possible; jumping or any kind of teleportation is preferable.
5Use Summoned Allies On Mind Flayers
Distraction Is Key
Once you make it to the ruins of the Upper City, whatever allies you’ve made on your journey will offer their aid. Mechanically speaking, you can use an action with any of your characters to summon some form of aid, mostly in the form of additional units to help you in a fight. While they aren’t the strongest units, they offer a great deal of distraction.
It’s best to save most of your allies for the final battle, where they’ll be most useful. Their primary target for the fight should be the Mind Flayer mages, since they’re the ones who will most likely interrupt your channels to the Crown. Remember that you may’t just shove them off the Brain; they’ll just pop back in, so a distraction is needed.
4Turn Your Channeler Invisible
Can’t Hurt What You Can’t See
Once your Illithid ally starts channeling the Crown of Karsus, keeping them focused on that task can be difficult since every enemy will make them their priority. To avoid this, you can simply turn them invisible. You do need to keep some things in mind, though. For starters, they need to be turned invisible by a different character since channeling will take concentration and remove invisibility. Splash damage could also be a problem if you have allies nearby.
There are many sources of invisibility, since most caster classes can access that spell, and it can be frequently found on scrolls or magical items. One of the easiest ways to give another creature invisibility is by throwing an invisibility potion at their feet. This won’t stop what they’re doing, meaning now the channeler is invisible, and no one can target them. Keep the other enemies distracted so they don’t try to detect them.
3Cast Globe Of Invulnerability
Three Turns To Do Whatever You Want
The easiest way to get around the whole fight is with Globe of Invulnerability, a spell that prevents creatures within the globe from taking any kind of damage. The effect lasts three turns, more than enough to do your channel and get on with the fight. This is particularly effective since it can protect your entire party, leaving them healthy and ready to take down the Netherbrain once the channel is complete.
You do need to get to the Crown of Karsus before casting the Orb, however, but that’s not really all that hard. Just avoid going through the middle of the arena, and use all forms of haste or teleportation you might have. Some classes, like Monks, can just make it there in a single turn, so keep your abilities in mind. There’s a chance the enemies might still interrupt the channel, so make sure to summon as many allies as you can to keep their attention off of your party.
2Skip The Whole Fight With Invisibility
You Still Have To Deal With The Brain
A previously mentioned strategy for the fight involved turning your channeler invisible, which makes the fight significantly easier. If you want to take that a step further, you can turn your entire party invisible before you climb the brain, which will prevent you from entering combat altogether.
Even though you still get a full cutscene with your enemies taunting you, once that ends, combat won’t start, since your opponents have no enemies in sight. Then you can just slip past everyone and get to channeling the Crown, which will initiate combat but will also instantly end the channel, letting you confront the Brain and skip all other combat encounters.
1Use Explosives For The Netherbrain
Drop Them All And Finish With Style
A simple strategy for making short work of many bosses is to pile a lot of explosives around them. While you won’t always have the time to set it up, you can drop a lot of things in a single turn (since dropping items is a free action), surrounding any boss with wine barrels and setting them alight.
And Act 3 has plenty of explosives for you to find, not only in the form of traps lying around, but also in the form of fireworks. As you explore Baldur’s Gate, you’ll come across a firework vendor that sells all kinds of fun explosives, and if you buy everything he has for sale (and steal all other products not nailed down), you will have enough firepower to finish the Netherbrain in a single turn.
