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The suave chosen of Bane inBaldur’s Gate 3has talked a big game since your meeting at Wyrm’s Rock Fortress. Under the supervision of his Steel Watch and his loyal Black Fist guard, he’s cozily protected as he takes the city for himself with his cold gauntlet-clad fist.
However, his time over Baldur’s Gate is finally at an end. At last, you’ll be able to put Gortash’s money where his mouth is, and you’ll find that the charismatic Enver Gortash is not really as fearsome as he seems - especially not without his precious automatons. With his guard crippled, it’s time to strike.
Updated Jun 23, 2025:We’ve updated this guide to reflect changes made in the past few updates!
How To Storm Wyrm’s Rock Fortress
you’re able to storm Wyrm’s Rock Fortress and fight Gortash at any time. But for this guide, we recommend that you do the following before attempting to storm the fortress:
It is possible to fight Gortash when you first meet him at the Audience Hall. His attacks are mostly the same as his official final fight.
However, your consequences for not doing the following will mean:
Bringing Karlach with you during his first coronation will require you to talk her down. Failing to do so will result in forcibly starting a combat encounter with Gortash. If you don’t want to risk it, we recommend bringing her to fight him after completing the precursor quests.
We also recommend that youspeak with Gortash’s parents at Flymm’s Cobblers in the Lower City, near the Central Wall, for added context and furthering Karlach’s quest.
Beginning from the side of Baldur’s Gate’s Lower City (Basilisk Gate), you’ll first be met withnumerous Flaming Fist at the front door. We recommendtriggering them slowly in groups:
Both groups are fairly weak at this level of gameplay, but each has the ability to summon a strong Fire Elemental to aid them during combat.
At this point, youmay attempt to go through the Audience Chamberand face Gortash’s defenses head-on. This isnot a recommended approachfor a few reasons:
To preserve your spells and sanity, you’ll want to go around the back way.
With Patch 5’s fixes on the south drawbridge,you can no longer jump from the bridge. Instead:
There is no known way to lower the South Span drawbridge. Even after Gortash’s defeat,the bridge can never again be lowered. The only way to travel to South Span now is through the Waypoints.
After lockpicking (DC 20) or using Knock on the door, you canenter the back of the Audience Chamber.
Inside, you shouldenter while hiding. However, if you’re discovered, stay in the back room to prevent being struck by any traps.
Your goal is toreach the roof via the second door on your left(when entering this room) andthen another door to your leftafter.
Sometimes, if you did not defeat all the enemies on the first floor, they will glitch out and join your initiative order. You can either time them out or go all the way back around to fight them. It’s a waste of time either way.
Up on the roof,circle aroundand avoid the doors entering the roof chamber for now.Head over to a small room with a ladder.
Climbing the ladder, you should seea small ledge across. Jump to itand onto the next level of the roof.
There are no enemies on the roof to handle if you have already shut down the Steel Watchers, but beware of the Stun Traps along the center of the walking path.
For the record, activating these traps do not count towards Gortash’s special achievement. If you hit one, don’t worry.
Up here, carefullymaneuver to the locked doorfor the central chamber. Unlocking it, you’ll reach an attic area with a bell.
Cross over to the far side tofind a leverin the corner. Flipping it willthrow down a ladderinto the central hall where Gortash awaits.
How To Get The Fancy Footwork Achievement
Once the ladder has been sent down,you’re going to want the following:
The traps in Gortash’s room have Sturdy, but they alsohave a weakness to Bludgeoning and Lightning. Butwe have two recommendationswe feel are the most reliable to use here:
The first will allow you to take out all of Gortash’s traps on the back wall (the curtains) in a single swoop.These curtains are your top priorityand should be targeted first.
The smokepowder bombs, used in our example, are best used bythrowing one at each of the curtain trapson the back wall. They’ll also remove the trap below them with their explosion.
With Greater Invisibility, you should be able to throw at least two of these bombs before your invisibility ends.
Once your Invisibility ends, do not use your character’s turn yet. Likewise, you should try to keep them close to Gortash when throwing your bombs. This is because his Dazzling Ray attack can set off any traps he may hit.
With both of these traps removed, your next goal will be tosend in the rest of your party.
Have themSneak in, crouching along the center of the rooms along the red carpet. Once inside, use what you’ve learned to quickly and efficientlyremove the remaining traps.
With the traps in this room removed, it’s now time tofocus on the main fight.
Remember that there is a grenade launcher hidden up in the corner just left of the entrance and out of sight. You’ll likely want to remove that first.
275
20 (base: 16 without traps)
9m
Medium/75kg (Humanoid)
20 (+5)
26 (+8)
16 (+3)
18 (+4)
Feats And Conditions
Shell of Resistance
Micromodron Force Curtain (the trap) grants Immunity to Thunder damage and Resistance to elemental damage for one turn. It also grants an extra Bonus Action and Movement.
Gain Advantage on Intimidation and Insight checks.
Crossbow Expert: Point-Blank
Gortash does not have Disadvantage on making melee attacks with a crossbow.
Advantage on Saving Throws against spells and magical effects.
Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed or Frightened.
Dauntless
Gortash cannot be Frightened or afflicted with other conditions that alter emotions.
Enervating Suffusion
When Gortash deals damage with an unarmed strike, he deals an extra 1d4 Force damage.
Gortash’s weapon cannot be removed by physical or magical means.
Scintillating
Gortash has a +1 bonus to Charisma Checks and Saving Throws.
Invoke the Black Hand (Transition Reaction)
When Gortash reaches half health, he summons several Manifestations of Tyrany around the room (which each grant +1 Strength to nearby allies). He then gives himself 150 temporary HP. He can use Empowered Unarmed Strike, Closed Fist of Bane, and Tyrant’s Bindings after using this.
Attacks
Dazzling Ray
Gortash fires a straight line of Radiant damage 18m, dealing 4d10 or half as much on a successful Dexterity Saving Throw. On a failed save, struck creatures are Blinded.
Empowered Unarmed Strike
Deals 1d4 + 5 Bludgeoning + 1d4 + 4d8 Force damage with an unarmed strike. Gortash can make two of these attacks in a turn.
Closed Fist of Bane
Conjures a giant black hand in the air above a target. Any creature beneath it is dealt 12-120 Bludgeoning damage when it falls at the end of the round.
Tyrant’s Bindings
Creates chains that halves the movement speed of targets and preventing Reactions. If the chains are still present at the beginning of Gortash’s next turn, they break and deal 8d8 Force damage to all targets. Targets that save on a Wisdom saving throw take half damage and can use reactions.
Deals 1d10 + 7 piercing damage.
Mechanical Throw
Gortash throws a Reflectoguard. Him and nearby allies receive a shield that reflects projectiles.
Gortash is an arguablyeasier fight than Orinonce you disable his Steel Watchers. If you’ve already defeatedRaphael at the House of HopeorAnsur the Heart of the Gate, fighting Gortash will probably feel a little too easy.
His primary damage source and danger in this fight is not himself. Rather, you’ll need to beware of allowing his allies to overwhelm you.
This goes double with his Reflectoguard. His allies are his targets for Reflectoguard,throwing back any projectilesyou might throw at them. Thrown items and arrows will bounce back. Spells will not. This effectlasts two turns for each Reflectoguard.
There arethree Black Fist enemiesin this room as well.All enemies here rely heavily on sight, so casting spells likeDarkness,Fog Cloud,Blindness, orHunger of Hadarcan be very useful here.
Beginning the fight,split your partyas such:
When the Black Fists and any traps you missed are down, you canfocus on Gortash.
The defeat of the Black Fists first is important due to their ability to use Aura of Terror.
This will give you a huge debuff to your attacks against Gortash so long as they’re near.
Halfway through his HP, Gortash will use his reaction to use “Invoke the Black Hand.” This reaction willsummon aspects of Bane.
Manifestations of Tyranny, as they are called, sit in all corners andgive an additional +1 Strengthin new patches (or 1d4 Fire damage in older variations).This effect can stackin overlapping areas of effect.
To prevent this from becoming a problem, you’ll want tokeep Gortash near the center of the roomas much as possible orkill the nearby manifestationswith a spare character.
On top of summoning the Manifestations, Gortash’stransition will alsogive him 150 temporary HP and the ability to use his special attacks:
This is the point where you shouldstart unleashing everything you have. The longer Gortash lives, the more dangerous this fight becomes.
There is a known and still current bugwe’ve encountered with Gortash’s transition as of Patch 7. Though the cause is still unknown, Gortashmay continue to use his transition reactionevery time he takes damage.
As a result,Gortash becomes immortalwith this Honor Mode-ending bug. Putting him to sleep or usingHold Persondoes not appear to help.The only solution appears to be a save resetas running and returning is almost certain to end with a near or complete party kill and throwing Gortash off the side of the keep is both near impossible with his stats and sure to end in an End Game with his Netherstone lost.
His base damage was increased in the Patch 3 and Patch 7 updates to Baldur’s Gate, increasing his overall threat but not enough to warrant too much panic.
Justkeep your party spread outenough to prevent his multiple-hit spells from working and keep someone out of his range with a method of healing to counteract his damage output. With a good support character, he won’t fare well against your barrage of attacks.
Additionally, a high-level spellcaster with a good DC might be able touseHold Personon Gortash, ensuring melee spells do Critical Hits. He is alsonot immune toPolymorph.
If you did not follow the guide to shut off his traps or something went wrong, his shield traps will eventually begin malfunctioning.
Any remaining traps will add vulnerabilities to Gortash, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on his Examination window to keep up with any changes.
As long as youkeep aggressive against Gortashandknock out his companions quickly, you should be able to manage Gortash fairly well.
You may need tomove a few times to avoid his “Closed Fist of Bane” spell(a spell that takes one full round to activate and can be avoided by running out of its immediate vicinity). Otherwise, you’ll be turning this smooth talker into a smooth puddle in no time.
When he’s defeated, you’llreceive the following items as a reward:
Fabricated Arbalest
Very rare heavy crossbow.+2 Enchantment. Deals 1d10 + 2 Piercing + 1d6 Fire damage.
Dazzling Ray:Allows the wielder to cast Dazzling Ray, dealing 4d10 Radiant damage in an 18m line or half as much on a successful Dexterity Saving Throw. On a failed save, struck creatures are Blinded.
Cloth of Authority
Rare clothing.+1 AC.
Dauntless:Wearer is immune to the Frightened condition and other emotion-altering conditions.
Authority:Wearer has Advantage on Insight and Intimidation checks.
Tyrannical Jackboots
Uncommon boots.Wearer gains +1 bonus to Charisma Checks and Saving Throws.
High Spellcasting:Gain +1 bonus to Spell Save DC.
Command:Wielder gains one cast of Command per rest.
With the Netherstone in your possession, you’ll now be one step closer to putting an end to the Elder Brain and that lie known as the Absolute.
