Learn how to defeat Gortash in Baldur’s Gate 3 in this guide we explain mechanics, damage, loot, and everything you need to beat this boss.
How to Defeat Gortash in Baldur’s Gate 3
The best way to defeat Gortash is by destroying his Force Curtain and traps scattered throughout the room. Gortash is immune to Thunder damage and is empowered by the Force Curtain items located at the back of the room as you enter. On turn one, Gortash will activate the Shell of Resistance condition. This gives him resistance to physical and spell damage, an extra action, and 3m movement speed while in 6 meters of the Force Curtains. Therefore, you should bypass attacking him, until you’ve destroyed the Force Curtain in the back of the room.
Gortash is a Dexterity-based Heavy Crossbow user. He has powerful abilities thanks to his Fabricated Arbalest. One such ability is Dazzling Ray, the same as Sunbeam. This powerful area-based spell not only does a lot of damage but triggers the Blind status effect. This spell will do damage in a line, thus you want your allies to spread out to avoid multiple hits. Gortash usually uses this on turn one, so position allies accordingly if you can. Let’s show you Gortash’s stats so you can understand the best way to defeat him.
Gortash Stats in Resistances BG3
Gortash has a massive amount of health and immunity to thunder-type damage. Gortash is accompanied by three enemies, Iron Consul Lo, Iron Consul Jaxbock, and Black Gauntlet Ulova. All of these have around 100 HP on Tactician difficulty and aren’t notably important. Below are Gortash’s Stats and features in Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Level: 9
- HP: 275 (357 on Tactician)
- AC: 16
- STR: 14
- DEX: 20
- CON: 10
- INT: 20
- WIS: 16
- CHA: 18
- Race: Human
- Resistances: Thunder
We will explain more about how to defeat Gortash, let’s examine his spells and mechanics next.
Gortash Mechanics, Spells, Abilities
Gortash can activate two conditions throughout the encounter, Shell of Resistance and Reflectoguard. Reflectoguard is a reflective shell on him, or his allies in the room. He uses the mechanical throw ability to create a small area-based grenade. Anyone in this area receives this benefit. Shell of Resistance, provides damage reduction to all spells and physical damage types and is usually done on turn one, making it harder to lower his health. However, the Shell ability is triggered by remaining close to the start of the fight, and not killing the Force Curtain.
After a few turns fighting near the Force Curtain, Gortash can cast Tyran’t Binding once per battle. This spell gives Gortash 150 temporary HP and an 8-64 force damage conjuration spell. Once cast, this lasts until a long rest (Avatar of Tyranny), making him immune to Thunder, Fire, and Force damage. You can try to use the Counterspell spell to stop this or race to beat him before he transforms. Moreover, you can destroy his traps to prevent this from happening or fight him in the back room away from the traps.
Destroy Gortash Traps
Once the fight has started, you will see glowing objects on the wall. These traps come in three forms:
- Micromodrom Force Curtain: activates Force Curtain empowering Gortash
- Grenade Impeller: Shots out Grenades that explode
- Incineration Caster: shots out a fire line
All of these traps are vulnerable to Bludgeoning and Lighting damage, but immune to Thunder, Fire, Psychic, and Poison. Spells like Chromatic Orb (Lighting) Call Lighting, Arrow of Lighting, and Lighting Bolt are effective as these traps only have a maximum of 12 HP. The Shocking Grasp cantrip can also help you here as well to deal with these traps.
Turn one Gortash will activate his powerful resistance spell. It’s wise to work on destroying the traps with a Ranger or Sorcerer using Twinned Magic and Chromatic Orb. Once these traps are defeated, Gortash will be limited in power and damage. Another solution is to clear out the first room before the dialogue, and then walk back in there. That way you can evade the traps and force Gortash and allies into a choke point around the door. Next up, we will share some tips on how to prepare for the Gortash Battle.
How to Prepare for Beating Gortash Fight
When preparing for the Gortash fight, it’s important to “buff” before entering the room where the dialogue starts with important consumables. The best way is to use an Elixir before starting the conversation. Elixir last until long rest and provide powerful benefits. Here are a few we recommend using for the Gortash fight:
- Elixir of Hill Giant Strength: 21 Strength until long rest (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin).
- Elixir of Bloodlust: When you kill a foe, gain 5 temporary hit points and another action (Ranger, Rogue).
- Elixir of Viciousness: lowers the number needed to critical hit by 1 (any damage dealer).
- Elixir of Peerless Focus: Gain advantage on concentration saves (Bard, Cleric, Druid).
Many of the traps you need to destroy are weak to Lighting damage. Therefore, keeping a ranged damage dealer with Arrow of Lighting will help destroy the traps quickly.
The room before the Gortash fight gives you an early preview of the traps you will face. Even when you hit the interact key (left Alt on PC), you won’t see these traps. However, you can hover over examine, and destroy them before entering. This is helpful because you want to pull Gortash away from the curtain at the back of the room.
Next, you need to assemble a well-rounded team. Below is our recommended group composition for Tactician Difficulty How to Defeat Gortash Fight in Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Paladin (Oathbreaker subclass): Single Target damage focus with Divine Smite.
- Sorcerer (Draconic Bloodline subclass): Area damage and lighting spells for trap destruction.
- Cleric (Life subclass): Healing, buffs, and crowd control.
- Ranger (Gloom Stalker subclass): Single target damage and trap destruction with Lighting Arrows.
Best Damage and Strategy
The best way to beat Gortash is with a trap dismantle or avoidance strategy. Follow these steps:
- Destroy traps in the area before the fight
- Enter combat, destroy Force Curtain traps against the back wall
- Retreat to the first room, the choke point
- Crowd control enemies with Ice spells (Ice Storm), or Ice Arrows to knock prone
- Once prone, unload on Gortash and attempt to keep him stunned
- While Gortash is incapacitated, kill the 3 enemies
- Focus on Gortash staying in his melee area not allowing him to retreat
The best damage types on Gortash are melee damage like Bludgeoning or Slashing. If he can activate his shield that reflects damage, melee will be your best bet. For this reason, it’s important to have a Barbarian, Fighter, or Paladin continually pressure Gortash. Moreover, if you funnel the enemies into the choke point at the center of the room, you can use area-based stuns and knock all of them prone in one turn. The Illithad power Black Hole is one of the best for this.
Lastly, you should have multiple sources of lightning and cold damage. Lighting is helpful to destroy the traps, while cold is useful if Gortash transforms during the fight. If he transforms, he’s vulnerable to Cold, meaning he takes twice the damage.
Where to Find Gortash
Gortash can be found in Wyrm’s Rock Fortress in Act 3, by heading north in the Rivington area. After your initial dialogue with him, you can decide to side with him or kill him. Once you’ve made your choice and are ready to fight and defeat Gortash, travel to Wyrm’s Rock Fortress Audience Hall (X: 25 Y: 212).
Depending on your choices with Orin, you may have to fight your way to the Audience Hall. After you’ve reached the back of the audience hall, take the staircase leading up to the roof. Move into the opening on the Eastern side of the roof and Gortash will be located inside the hall. You have one room before preparing for a fight, so make sure not to step fully into the room until you are ready.
Loot and Rewards for Defeating Gortash
Heavy Crossbow
After beating Gortash, you can loot his body for some excellent rewards. Below is a list of items you can acquire for looting Gortash:
- Gauntlet of the Tyrant: Very Rare Gloves, Enervating Suffusion, High Spellcasting, and Comand Spell.
- Fabricated Arbalest: Very Rare Heavy Crossbow 1d10 + 2 Piercing, Dazzling Ray, Illuminating Shot.
- Cloth of Authority: Rare Cloth, 10 AC, Dauntless, Authority, and Armour Class (AC) +1
- Tyrannical Jackboots: Uncommon Boots is a scintillating special feature.
- Note from Helsik: Note from Devil’s Fee vendor
- Dagger: Mundane dagger.
- Smokepowder Bomb: Throwable item dealing 3d4+9 force damage in a 4-meter radius.
Of all these items, Fabricated Arbalest is the best. This weapon provides two powerful abilities which can do damage and debuff targets. This weapon requires Martial Weapon proficiency but should be obtained for anyone wanting a serious ranged weapon in Act 3.
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