How To Defeat Balthazar in Baldur’s Gate 3

Balthazar in Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the few necromancer bosses in the game, and as per Dungeons and Dragons lore, necromancers are tough to defeat. So allow us to assume the role of the figurative inner tadpole in your brain, telling you how to defeat Balthazar.

How to Defeat Balthazar in BG3 the Harder Way (Gauntlet of Shar Scenario)

You’ll be able to defeat Balthazar earlier in his office in the Gauntlet of Shar this way, but it will be a harder fight compared to temporarily working with him to get to the Shadowfell.

1. Gather the party outside Balthazar’s room in the Gauntlet of Shar, don’t trigger the dialog. Perform a Quick Save.
2. With a Warlock (Wyll) in the party, cast Invisibility on the whole party. You can use rings, amulets, or potions that can give Invisibility if the spell isn’t enough.
3. Walk up to Balthazar while invisible and surround him with the whole party. Place the melee characters closest to Balthazar and put the casters up the stairs behind Balthazar.
4. Turn on turn-based mode, and whack Balthazar with your heaviest hitter (preferably a Paladin so he can Smite). This action will initiate an ambush, giving you two free turns.
5. Focus your melee party members’ heaviest attacks at Balthazar and cast Turn Undead with your Cleric (Shadowheart) so Balthazar’s petty zombies won’t join the fight (depending on your luck). You can also cast some debuffs prior to attacks on Balthazar to make him squishier.
6. The general idea is to kill Balthazar immediately in those two free turns granted by the ambush attack. You can reload as much as you like to fish for critical rolls. As much as possible, deny Balthazar his turn.

The Turn Undead spell from your Cleric should make it easier to deny the smaller undead their turns, leaving you to focus on the Flesh Golem once Balthazar is down.

How to Defeat Balthazar (Shadowfell Scenario)

Getting to this scenario means pretending to work with Balthazar. Also, this cheesy method won’t work if you’ve already initiated combat with him in the Shadowfell. As a final note, you won’t be able to loot his body using this method.

1. Perform a Quick Save, as always. Ungroup your party, and leave either Karlach or Lae’zel behind before jumping down to the Nightsong. It has to be a character with high Strength and a potion of Invisibility (otherwise, the Invisibility can be granted by a Warlock).
2. Bring at least one member of your party to the Nightsong and initiate the dialog.
3. Once Balthazar steps in front of the Nightsong, switch to the high-strength character you left behind and then have them drink an Invisibility potion or have a Warlock cast an Invisibility spell on them.
4. Sneak in the said invisible high-strength character between the Nightsong and Balthazar (in Stealth Mode for higher chances of success), perform a Quick Save, and then shove Balthazar in the direction of the Shadowfell void. If it fails, reload the Quick Save and keep trying until the Shove Action succeeds.

You won’t get his loot if you defeat Balthazar this way, but you also won’t have to fight him. Pick your poison and hope for a successful Constitution saving throw.