I don’t think I could romance Karlach, she’s half cool bro, half cute puppy.
The fight at the end of Shadowheart’s story (no spoilers) is really kicking my ass. I haven’t had a fight that felt this futile since Nere in Act I and I only got through that by summoning my Ogre friend. I have failed this so many times I am tempted to make the evil choice which I imagine avoids the fight altogether.
I will keep plugging at it but it is frustrating.
So you want to be Chris Pyne in the D&D movie? 
Honestly, that’s an interesting idea.
Potential Tactics
One good technique is to spend the first part of the fight backing out of the room into the hallways where you came in, using spells like Spike Growth and Wall of Fire to cover your retreat and force the enemies to take damage as they slowly approach you. Also, as they bunch up in the Spike Growth, you can use spells like Ice Storm and Fireball to cut their numbers down. Familiars, summons and spells like Spiritual Weapon can help delay them from chasing you as you put some distance in there.
Daylight dispels Darkness but is a higher level spell so there’s some cost vs the Level 2 Darkness spell. Gust of Wind amusingly acts as a poor man’s dispel, clearing a path through the Darkness effect in its wake.
Basically, keep moving back to stay out of the Darkness clouds, force them to take damage reaching you and be able to hold a line where you’re not mobbed from all directions.
I agree with all of this. I’ll just add two things that aren’t story spoilers, but try to be cautious. 1) This was by far the hardest fight in the game for me. 2) Thematically it might make sense to use Shadowheart’s Divine Intervention, which could potentially clear out a lot of the lesser mobs.
I finally got through it. I think what made it work this time was summoning an upper tier elemental that casts wind and Silence. Both of which seemed to help us avoid all the Darkness and whatever that spell that stops healing is called. Those two things were what were making this fight extra extra hard. Karlach and Shadowheart still died (I raised them of course) but we finally won. I also did stay close to the door way and make them come to me which also helped (thanks for the advice).
This is the type of game that makes me anxious. I know there isn’t “right” choices but I want to make the right choice. Like should I wipe out all the goblins with Halsin or walk around and find be able to talk and explore more? Am I making the right choices in conversations? It a lot of stress.
Basically. I’m a big fan of the Deus Ex series (well, the original and Human Revolution). A big complaint about both of those are there are some required kills, and that’s much more of a shooter with RPG elements than a real RPG.
Is he in jail? Sometimes I’ve been ‘killed’ and it turns out he was knocked out. if he’s in jail his crap is in a chest outside jail. Its a huge PITA. You can convince them to let you out, but end up still unable to open the chest to get your stuff.
I went to a previous save and played through. I’ll never know for sure
Act III Spoiler Question:
I stumbled upon the sub that takes me to the prison that has the Duke and the key to getting rid of the robots (I assume the Gondians I rescue will give me access to destroy the factory). I was able to persuade the Dwarf to take me over but my first attempt completely floundered. I would like to try again later so I went back to my save just before I boarded. My question is can I leave this in a holding pattern and do other things and not lose my access to the sub or is this a timed thing and if I don’t board now I get locked out? Thanks.
I found a list of time-sensitive quests on Reddit and it looks like you should be fine to wait, but who knows if there’s a trigger somebody just hasn’t found and written about.
Answer
The only break point for that is if you kill Gortash first. Then the sub driver has no reason to be working and you can no longer access the Iron Throne. There is no timer on doing the quest aside from the six rounds you’re allowed to rescue everyone once you’re actually inside.
If you talk to the dwarf and decide to go do some other stuff first, it’s fine. Provided “do other stuff” isn’t “Kill Gortash”.
Got it. Thank you!
I really appreciate the ability to quick save in the middle of conversations, for just this reason.
I will say that for that quest, there was an NPC that was supposed to be at the location who wasn’t there. It may have broken a major NPC questline for me, and that’s part of the reason I’ve more or less abandoned BG3: too many open quests, not enough forward momentum, and no clear sign whether I’ve borked a storyline that I care about by doing things out of order.
I’m back to the soothing simplicity of Oxygen Not Included for now.
I once spent a solid 30 minutes after school at a whiteboard with another teacher, arguing and trying to sort a workable temperature control system. I’ve never bent so much brainpower towards any computer game as ONI.
Act III Spoiler Question
How do I get into the Steel Watch Foundry? I have both the bomb from the Gnomes and I rescued some of the Gondian hostages so I know I will have some options when. I get inside but I can’t get inside.
The gates are all locked and just barging through the front door seems like a bad idea. I tried to cross the open bridge. No dice. I tried from the roof of the artist mansion. Nope. I tried from the beach. I read a note in their mailbox that there was an opening via the sewer but my exploration of that seemed to be a dead end at least as the foundry is concerned. What am I missing? Am I actually just supposed to bash through the gate? Thanks. [spoiler]
I’m sure there are sneakier ways (like the sewers), but I just went in the side door. I lockpicked the gate, fought a steel watcher, then went around to the left side of the building, fought two more, then used the lever by the loading dock.
I think there is also another door further down on the left side.
My party is a little OP at this point so I don’t worry too much about the optimal path.
Act III Foundry
I just went in the front door. There’s a Watcher who roams from the door then around the corner, the comes back a few moments later. On one pass, I pick the gate then, on the next pass, pick the front door and scoot inside. Once I snuck around to the side door but it didn’t make any real difference in how the area played out.