One Sneaky Baldur’s Gate 3 Strategy Will Help Take Down The Toughest Enemies – Armessa Movie News

One of Baldur’s Gate 3’s sneakiest strategies is a great way of destroying bosses in a single hit and clearing out entire rooms of enemies without actually fighting. The new CRPG from Larian Studios offers a surreal amount of freedom when engaging with other characters, scenarios, and more, and amidst this freedom, players can get quite creative when it comes to elaborating combat strategies. A clever boss-nuking strategy in Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance, involves filling the opponent’s pockets with gold and then striking them down a single time with a special weapon that has a modifier based on the amount of gold the target is carrying.

Another well-known strategy that is even considered a game-breaking exploit in Baldur’s Gate 3 sees druid players stack up numerous crates to reach a high place and, once transformed into an owlbear and enlarged by another character, use Crushing Flight to jump down onto an enemy or a group of hostiles. The Owlbear Divebomb is one of the oldest creative tricks in the game, especially when dealing with stronger opponents. However, a new strategy that players have been employing sees stealthy characters like rogues in the spotlight. With it, they are capable of nuking bosses and clearing out entire rooms in a single action.

Related: You’re Probably Making Baldur’s Gate 3 Harder Than It Has To Be

Barrelmancy Can One-Shot Bosses In Baldur’s Gate 3

One of the strongest strategies to use when facing hard bosses in Baldur’s Gate 3 is barrelmancy. While not an official in-game term, the name is kindly used by the player community to refer to the positioning of barrels around bosses and then igniting them for an insane amount of damage output via an elaborate sequence of explosions. This damage is usually enough to kill tough bosses and all other opponents within range of the explosions. While executing the explosion is quite easy and requires a single action, the setup for the barrelmancy strategy is actually a bit complicated and may require a few attempts.

How Barrelmancy Works In Baldur’s Gate 3

The key to barrelmancy in Baldur’s Gate 3 is being proficient in stealth. By approaching most bosses in the game, players will automatically trigger some sort of dialogue cutscene or perhaps initiate the battle itself. To avoid this, a sneaky character needs to be the one running around the perilous arena and positioning barrels without being detected. The best items for the job are usually Runepowder Barrels and Smokepowder Barrels. Though they weigh a lot and can encumber the character, these explosive items can be gathered across several locations in the game, such as the Harper’s hideout in Wyrm’s Crossing.

As seen in the video by Ravemouse on YouTube, it is possible to make the active character invisible to run across the entire arena and place several barrels around the areas where Raphael and his minions will spawn in the encounter within the House of Hope in Act 3. Once all explosives have been placed in a satisfactory manner, Ravemouse loses the invisible condition on their character and activates the dialogue. Upon becoming hostile with the enemies in the room, including Raphael in Baldur’s Gate 3, their character flies away to a far end of the room. This location is safe from the radius of the explosions.

Upon arriving, they use their ranged crossbow weapon to fire a Smokepowder Shot against the barrel in the center of the room, which triggers a long sequence of explosions in the area. These explosions also set the ground ablaze, making the terrain dangerous to navigate. With Ravemouse’s explosive strategy, all but one Cambion opponent dies, which they then manually eliminate using regular combat skills. Considering the previous amount of enemies in the room that were eliminated without combat, including Raphael and Yurgir in Baldur’s Gate 3, both of which are bosses, the tactic proved to be quite useful.

Barrelmancy Can Only Be Used Some Times In Baldur’s Gate 3

The issue with the barrelmancy strategy is that it can only be used so many times. There is not an infinite supply of barrels lying around to be looted. While there is a decent amount that can be gathered from several locations in Baldur’s Gate 3, the tactic requires multiple barrels to be placed for increased damage. As such, barrelmancy needs to be used in key encounters that are particularly hard and that can prove to be a burden on the player’s resources, including their Rests. Ravemouse’s usage of barrelmancy during the fight with Raphael is clever, as that can be one of the toughest boss encounters in the game.

Another great moment to use barrelmancy, for instance, is during the fight against the Netherbrain, in which players will encounter several strong opponents ready to face them, clustered on top of the arena. By placing the barrels next to the various illithid creatures and then igniting them, it is possible to skip a large portion of the final boss fight. The explosion caused by them will wipe out most of the opponents. This is a great strategy to employ even in the Tactician Mode of Baldur’s Gate 3 – even if barrelmancy does not kill the boss or clear the room, it will deal a significant amount of damage.

Caution Is Needed When Using Barrelmancy In Baldur’s Gate 3

The issue with barrelmancy is that it does not come without its risks. The explosions triggered by the barrels placed in the arena do not distinguish between ally or foe and will harm anything in the radius. As such, any party members in Baldur’s Gate 3 or perhaps allied NPCs that are poorly placed will be caught up in the blast. Because of its strength, it is also likely that they will succumb to the explosions. To avoid having to use a Scroll of Revivify, a spell slot, or being cut off of important content because an NPC was killed, it is necessary to be very careful when using barrelmancy.

Ravemouse’s usage of a Smokepowder Shot against the barrels in Raphael’s House of Hope, for instance, spread the barrels even more across the area, expanding its range. If they had another party member present, it is possible that they would have been caught up in the explosion, unless they were previously positioned outside the room or near the pillars. Although it has its own set of risks, the barrelmancy strategy in Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most effective ways of obliterating bosses without having to actively engage in dangerous combat.

Source: YouTube/Ravemouse