Few bosses in Baldur's Gate 3 are worthy of the ire of players like Balthazar, Commander of the Reborn Dead. Battling him is not usually an easy feat, and with his penchant for cheats and swarms of allied undead, you'll likely be wishing Balthazar was buried a meter deep for every one of his transgressions.
Whether you're fighting him in his hidden office or at the depths of Shadowfell, coming in unprepared will be a death sentence - pun intended. So grab your Clerics and Paladins and keep them close; you won't want to venture far from them for this fight.
Balthazar - How To Beat Him In His Office
The first chance you get to fight Balthazar, you'll find him in the far west wing of the Gauntlet of Shar. Here, you can approach him peacefully and speak with him. If you choose to attack him or anger him rather than (pretend to) work with him, you'll have to fight him, a number of dangerous ghouls, and a massive construct known as Flesh.
We recommend trying to fight Balthazar in Shadowfell rather than here.
This fight is arguably more difficult than his Shadowfell fight. We recommend being at least level 7 when fighting him, though level 8 is the level he is balanced for. There are a few reasons for this:
- His ghouls will target downed players and kill them.
- Flesh is not present in the Shadowfell fight and can go Berserk.
- There is less room - especially to escape Balthazar's Cloudkill.
- You cannot abuse the Shove bonus action.
What To Do First
If you decide to go ahead with this fight anyway, focus on the ghouls from the start. If any member of the party is knocked unconscious, they can use Devour to instant-kill them.
When they're eventually resurrected by Balthazar using his No Rest For The Wicked ability (which he primarily only uses for the fight in his office), have one character dedicated to killing them before they're able to move on the next turn.
Balthazar begins both this fight and the Shadowfell fight with a potion of Haste. For the first three turns of combat, he'll be able to cast two spells each round for massive damage. For this reason, it is not recommended to try this fight without a dedicated healer or your own powerful potions.
Additionally, he can cast a fifth-level Conjuration spell, Cloudkill:
Cloudkill (1 action; VS; Concentration):
Create a 20-foot-radius Sphere of poisonous, yellow-green fog centered on a point you choose within 36m. It lasts for the Duration, until strong wind disperses the fog, or until the caster's concentration is broken. Its area is heavily obscured.
When a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must make a Constitution saving throw. The creature takes 5d8 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Creatures are affected even if they hold their breath or don’t need to breathe. The fog moves 10 feet away from you at the start of each of your turns, rolling along the surface of the ground.
To avoid his Cloudkill spell, it is recommended to either pack Gust of Wind, attack Balthazar to end his Concentration, or Dash out of the cloud. Staying will result in large amounts of stacking damage.
Taking Care Of Flesh
When the ghouls are taken care of, and you're spam-healing to cancel out Balthazar's attacks, you can now focus on Flesh.
Flesh doesn't take extra damage from Fire, but his Aversion to Fire property means you'll want to stack on the Fire attacks for that extra advantage. Hit him with a fire spell, and then go all out.
Beware of his Berserk and Multiattack. He can one-shot your squishier companions.
Attacking Balthazar Himself
When all enemies except potentially one ghoul are gone, you can now focus on Balthazar. Pin him down with your players and surround him.
Balthazar will willingly cast Cloudkill on himself over attacking in melee, meaning he's willing to damage himself to kill you. Prevent him from escaping, and you can use this to your advantage.
When defeated, you can loot him for a special Circle of Bones that gives Undead Ward as a passive effect and the ability to Animate Dead as an action.
Balthazar - How To Beat Him In Shadowfell
Compared to bosses you may have encountered thus far (like Yurgir The Orthorn), Balthazar is a push-over on a pure stat level - especially if you're walking into this fight at level 8 and having completed the Gauntlet of Shar.
Much like the fight in his office, he'll begin by drinking a Haste potion; this is dangerous simply for his ability to cast two spells in one turn as a result. His companions, however, are much easier this time.
While you're outnumbered, his companions are all undead skeleton creatures that:
- Are vulnerable to Radiant damage
- Can be Turned
- Can be Shoved over the edge
- Have lower HP than the ghouls and don't target the unconscious
Ensure each of your characters has at least access to some method of Radiant damage. Clerics and Paladins are definitely wanted for this fight.
Additionally, any casting of Resistance might be warranted here if your party is susceptible to Blindness as the Apostate Librarians spam-cast Blindness and Ray of Frost.
What To Do First
You'll begin combat surrounded by a large number of undead, including the large undead creatures like the Apostate Destroyers. Shove whomever you can over the edge and move your own members away from the edges to prevent them from doing the same back.
If you have access to Spirit Guardians, now is the time to use it.
When you're not bogged down with enemies encircling you, send one ally to the upper left ledge to take care of the enemies there.
There is a known glitch where there is a section of the arena on the right side of the northern where enemies cannot be targeted by standard clicking on PC, nor can you see any damage, stat, or healing notifications.
If you encounter this error, you may still target a creature in this area by pressing their character preview in the initiative instead of their physical body.
After You Defeat The Skeletons
Your melee fighters - once the skeletons surrounding you are gone - should be making a dash for the ledge Balthazar is standing on. Take out any enemies along the way. If you want to zone Balthazar, you can do so by using an area spell like Ice Storm or by casting Silence, forcing him to move elsewhere.
Balthazar will continue to try jumping and running away to avoid your fighters from getting too close. You'll likely have to Dash or Misty Step to him to stop him from running.
A good way to catch him is to send your melee fighter up on the right ledge where he begins the fight and keep that fighter on the left ledge where the ranged skeletons were stationary. He prefers to jump to either that ledge when threatened, falling right into your trap, or down on the ground beside the edge on the ground level (opening him up to be Shoved off).
Go all out against Balthazar. Ensure he can't run away with feats like Sentinel or spells like Entangle.
Keep in mind that Balthazar is one of the few boss enemies that does not have Darkvision, making him susceptible to Darkness spells. He's also relatively light and can be Shoved over the edge like the other skeletons.
Once he and all other enemies are defeated, you can loot his corpse (if it isn't shoved off the edge) for his special headpiece, a book, and three scrolls of Speak with the Dead. Afterward, speak with the Nightsong to make a very important decision.