The final battle of Baldur's Gate 3 puts you up against some of the most iconic Dungeons & Dragons enemies under the control of the Netherbrain and the true enemy of any tactical strategy game: a timer. Racing against the swarming masses of enemies and the falling platforms beneath your feet, you'll have work cut out for you.
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PostsThankfully, you're not alone in this fight. With the help of your friends, your summoned allies, and your greatest partner - this guide, you'll have everything you need to destroy the Netherbrain once and for all. Just...maybe consider bringing Gale along if all goes awry.
How To Reach The Netherbrain
Reaching the Netherbrain, you will need to have completed these previous steps:
- Gather the Netherstones from Orin and Gortash.
- Found the Netherbrain at the Morphic Pool.
- Bypassed High Hall Courtyard and climbed the stem column up to the brain.
During all of these steps, there will be a branching path where you'll determine who your illithid companion is as you cannot progress the final portion of the game without one:
- The Emperor
- Yourself
- Orpheus
- Karlach
If you choose anyone except the Emperor,you will have to fight him in the final battle against the Netherbrain.
How To Reach The Crown Of Karsus: Defeating The Forces Atop The Netherbrain
Atop the Netherbrain, there will be a small legion of enemies standing between you and the Crown of Karsus. These enemies include:
Enemy
Amount
Conditions
The Emperor
1
If you sided with Orpheus.
Dream Guardians
4
If you sided with Orpheus.
Aberration Countermeasures
4
If you sided with the Emperor
Dominated Red Dragon
1
-
Illithid Arcanists
4
-
Tentacles
16
-
As you appear, the first four on the above list will be on the brain itself while the Arcanists will be on the upper back platform and the tentacles are hidden out of view and only appear when walking in their range.
Tentacles are not affected by area attack spells if they are not already visible. You cannot use spells to reveal the locations of the tentacles.
You'll notice as you enter this area that there is additionally a timer. This will be a timer to the emergence of a supporting Nautiloid ship.
After the timer's countdown ends (or on the fifth turn in Tactician), the ship will appear and begin firing magic artillery on the brain. Additional reinforcements of illithids and intellect devourers will come with this ship. However, since this isn't much of a setback, we recommend not focusing too much on this timer.
Above all else, you should:
- Take care in traversing the brain to preserve all members of your party, and
- Be sparing with your highest-level spell slots and one-use features. High damage output will be important for the second half of this encounter.
Although you should be sparing with your strongest spells, you may wish to use lower-level spells such as:
- Fireball
- Ice Storm
- Shatter
- Hunger of Hadar
- Wall of Fire
- Black Hole Nebula (illithid)
or any other large area effect spell to take care of any large masses of enemies.
Alternatively, you can bypass the top of the brain entirely with Arcane Gate or Dimension Door. We don't generally recommend this, however, as this puts you right in the line of fire of the illithid arcanists and doesn't solve the dragon problem.
The best and most consistently effective strategy we've used for the opening of this encounter is to:
- Remain on the beginning platform with your lowest defense party-members and use ranged spells against the ground enemies.
- Use your illithid ability of Black Hole Nebula to drag enemies together while revealing tentacles and possibly inflict Slow.
- Send out one strong tank to absorb the aggression of the dragon and other strong enemies.
- Use one leftover unit to start Gathering Your Allies somewhere off to the left or right (away from the illithid range).
- Once the dragon is dealt with, clear all remaining non-tentacle enemies (if there are any left).
With the top of the brain mostly cleared near the center, you can start using low level spells and ranged attacks to draw the aggression of the illithids up top.
Each Illithid has high-level Magic Missile which can kill your party-members as it continues hitting even if your character is Knocked Out. This is highly dangerous, so we warn extreme caution in your approach.
Black Hole Nebula is a huge asset in drawing the illithid off the crown and away from where you'll be summoning the portal to the Netherbrain's domain. Additionally, you can Gather Your Allies up on the platform next to them as the arcanists tend to prioritize these targets more than your party.
How To Defeat The Emperor (Side With Orpheus)
If you sided with Orpheus, you will have to face the Emperor atop the Netherbrain. Although this may seem terrifying at first, there is nothing special about the Emperor's stats or feats.
If you're scared of the Emperor, don't be. He's nothing you haven't faced before plus some extra spells such as Chain Lightning in higher levels of difficulty.
When fighting him, you have more to fear about the additional possibility of being stunned next to a dragon and his accompanying dream enemies than you have from a 1v1 encounter with him.
We recommend targeting the Emperor first with your strongest ranged attacks to get him off the field on Turn One. You don't want to be mass-stunned for the first half of the fight.
He does have a Fire Shield (Ice), but sticking to a strong ranged attack on Turn One will negate any issues this would cause.
How To Use The Crown Of Karsus
When you reach the Crown of Karsus on the far side of the brain's dome, you will need your illithid in the party to use the special "Crown of Karsus" action. This can be found on the far right of your hotbar.
If you take damage during your usage of the Crown of Karsus, you will lose concentration and have to retry next round. One round is all that will be required to open the last half of the final battle.
Using this action will cancel out the rest of your turn, so use any second actions or bonus actions before using this feature. Additionally, make sure you aren't standing on any possible incoming blasts from the illithid ship.
How To Defeat The Netherbrain
Basic Information
HP
350 (Tactician: 450)
AC
15
Speed
Size/Weight
Huge/10,000kg (Aberration)
Stats
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
14 (+2)
10 (0)
22 (+6)
28 (+9)
21 (+5)
24 (+7)
Resistances:
None
Immunities
None
Feats
Psionic Retribution
Use a reaction to release a Brainquake.
Against All Odds (Conditional)
If succeeding the DC100 against the Netherbrain during the last encounter, the Netherbrain begins its fight with 20 percent less HP.
Aegis of the Absolute (Honour Mode Only)
The Netherbrain becomes immune to any type of damage taken until the start of its next turn. Upon such time, the Netherbrain will lose all immunities and begin anew.
Attacks
Retributive Brainquake
After being struck, Netherbrain uses Reaction to cause a Brainquake for 10d6 Psychic damage (or half as much on a successful Intelligence save) on all creatures within 30m. On a failed save, creatures are also Mindbroken and suffer from the banes of Slow.
Orb of Negation
Netherbrain summons an orb that explodes on its next turn for 20d10 Force damage to all within 30m. Platforms under the orb received the condition: "Marked for Negation" and will be removed from the battlefield upon the orb's detonation.
read moreOrb Of Negation Attack
Before rushing in, it is important to understand the mechanics of the floor of the Netherbain's inner domain. On the Netherbrain's turn, it will always use Orb of Negation.
Orb of Negation will highlight a portion of platforms within the Netherbrain's domain. You will see a new object added to the Turn Order. When the turn of the Orb detonates on its next turn, the highlighted platforms will fall.
Any creatures standing on the platforms when they are destroyed will be automatically killed. Sometimes, characters will still be "Marked for Negation" even if they are no longer standing on a marked platform. This is a rare bug, and we caught an example of it in the video above. You can tell if your character is Marked for Negation if they have a reddish hue glowing around them.
As Orb of Negation will select three (or more) of the platforms each round, you will have limited rounds until the fight is physically impossible to win. The higher your difficulty, the more platforms will be selected and the less rounds you will have.
We recommend waiting until your party is gathered around the portal and ready to enter immediately. The portal will open the turn after your mind flayer uses the Netherstones on the Crown of Karsus.
If you don't send all of your party in at once, the platform on the other side might be negated, making it impossible to enter the portal.
Brainquake Attack
Beyond Orb of Negation, the only other attack the brain has is Brainquake.
This may cause melee attackers to act as if the spell Slow had been cast on them on failed Intelligence Saving Throws. So, you'll have to be frugal with your action economy if your characters have suffered a Mindbreak.
Strategy And Methods
Beyond these two warnings, you'll want to put everything you have into killing the brain as quickly as possible.
It has no resistances, and it only has immunities in Honour Mode. Therefore, you should be able to do decent damage quickly. However, if you're struggling, these methods may help:
- Shooting Arrows of Aberration Slaying.
- Using the Wet condition to double Cold and Lightning damage.
- Using Mol's special Scorching Ray spell.
- Attacking withBalduran's Giantslayer for Advantage and additional Strength damage.
- Using Hunter's Mark for additional 1d6 damage on each weapon attack.
While attacking, you'll likely need to move around a lot. Make sure to keep an eye on your available bonus actions and Movement to ensure you're not caught in an Orb of Negation and accidentally kill a party-member during the final battle.
Eventually, you'll put the Netherbrain in its place. But what you do from here will be up to you.
Will you dominate the brain and become the new ruler of Faerun, or will you liberate the citizens below of their oppressors and put an end to this elaborate plot once and for all?
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