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As players make their way to the Moonrise Towers in Act 2 ofBaldur’s Gate 3, they’ll encounter Gerringothe Thorm, the greedy tollkeeper preventing them from progressing past the Toll House.
Unwary players thinking Gerringothe is just another boss will quickly find themselves in a tough spot with no way out. Even players with themost optimizedBG3buildswill find Gerringothe an impossible boss to kill until they figure out how her unique mechanic works. Just like everything else inBG3, there are multiple ways players can handle Gerringothe Thorm. Here is the breakdown.
BG3: Should You Give Gerringothe Gold?
Gerringothe Thorm has only one demand:gold. Two ways to give Gerringothe gold are tossing a single coin or giving a set amount directly.Tossing a coin will unlock a new Deception check(necessary to defeat Gerringothe without fighting her) but won’t do much else. This action can be repeated infinitely, and Gerringothe will always demand more.
If given 5000 Gold in one go through the second method, Gerringothe will become non-hostile and give players a one-time-use scroll for thepowerful level 6BG3spellFlesh to Gold. If given less than 5000 Gold, she’ll become hostile and initiate combat. If players opt for this method, they can take back the entire sum of 5000 Gold by defeating the boss and looting her body.
How to Beat Gerringothe Thorm in BG3
Before the fight starts,ensure no one in the party has any gold. Gerringothe’s main attack,Jealous Avarice, allows her to deal damage to a character based on the amount of gold they’re carrying. If they’re not carrying anything, Jealous Avarice won’t do any damage, and most of Gerringothe’s damage is negated from the get-go.
An easy way to get rid of all gold before the fight starts is to give it all to Gerringothe during dialogue.
When the fight starts, aim to take out all the Visages first. Gerringothe will start with600 HP, which is an insane amount of health for this stage of the game. Luckily, players can reduce Gerringothe’s total health in 100 HP chunks by killing the Visages that patrol the Toll House and serve as the boss’s aides.
Each time a Visage is killed, 100 HP disappears from Gerringothe’s health pool, and a piece of her armor falls off. When the armor pieces protecting her hands are destroyed (Coin Vambrace (L) and (R), her whip attacks will also be disabled.
Enchants piles of coins to explode, dealing 3d8 Force Damage.
Coin Halberd
Converts a pile of gold into a halberd as a bonus action
Coin Whip
Uses the coins attached to her arms as whips, dealing 4d8 Slashing damage.
Sublimation (Only in Honour Mode)
Casts the AoE control spell Flesh to Gold on a nearby target.
Gerringothe’s other means of dealing damage is a spell calledCombustible Coins. This spell puts an enchantment on the piles of coins lying about the Toll House, turning them into makeshift mines when players get too close to one. If the coin piles were picked up before hostilities started, Gerringothe would have nowhere to cast this spell, rendering this means of attack ineffective. If there was no opportunity to pick up the coin piles, players could also have their party members pick up the piles mid-combat. Just be sure to avoid any piles that have already been enchanted.
Similarly, Gerringothe’s other spell,Coin Halberd, also requires a loose pile of gold to transform it into a halberd that can be commanded as a separate unit (likeCleric’s Spritual Weapon spell). No gold piles, no halberds. Once all the Visages are defeated, Gerringothe’s health falls to nearly zero. Use any attack to take her out.
Once killed, Gerringothe will drop the following rewards:
How to Beat Gerringothe Thorm Without Fighting (Dialogue Checks)
Players can force Gerringothe to self-destruct by passing a series of Dialogue Checks and convincing her that the player is there to replace her at her job. This method only works if the prerequisite conditions are met.
If successful, Gerringothe will choose to kill herself through self-destruction rather than live in a world where her greed isn’t satiated.
How to Fight Gerringothe Thorm in Honour Mode
In Honour Mode, Gerringothe Thorm gains access to anew legendary action: Sublimation. Whenever one of Gerringothe’s armor pieces is broken, Gerringothe can cast Sublimation - an AoE attack that can turn all enemies caught within the blast to gold. Characters afflicted with the Turned to Gold condition will be forced to make aCON 17 saveevery turn or remain a golden statue. While not a death sentence, it is areally effective control spell, especially as it’s an AoE that can catch multiple characters in one shot.
Sublimation is an exclusive spell only available to Gerringothe Thorm. It cannot be learned by players.
Whenever Gerringothe casts Sublimation, at least one of your party members is taken out of the fight with a thought. Even if a player is willing to sacrifice party members to take down Gerringothe, there is little chance of winning this fight without proper planning. This is one of thehardest legendary actions to work around, but solutions exist.
Ambush Gerringothe
Players canambush Gerringothe from the rooftop of the Reithwin Toll House by waiting until she stops at the balcony near the elevator and pushing her off the edge. Use a push spell like Thunderwave or Warlock’s Eldritch Blast (with the Repelling Blast invocation) to throw Gerringothe off into the depths outside the Toll House. Doing so will not kill her; she has too much HP for that, but it will allow you a few turns to deal with the Visages without dodging attacks from Gerringothe.
Guardian of Faith
Gerringothe aims Sublimation at whichever player-controlled unit is closestto her. The Guardian of Faith Cleric/Bard spell summons a Construct who will be immune to Sublimation by its very nature. If this is summoned next to Gerringothe, she’ll always aim at the Guardian first, failing her spell every time and rendering her ability to deal damage with it obsolete.
Players can aim for afast K.O. by killing all the Visages in two or three rounds and spreading out all party membersso that when Gerringothe uses Sublimation, only one party member gets affected. The best way to do this is to get multiple Visages to low health, take them out in one or two rounds with multi-target spells like Magic Missile, and then kill Gerringothe in the same turn.
As mentioned previously, Gerringothe has a tendency to aim Sublimation at whoever is closest, sokeep the highest DPS character as far away from her as possibleso that they’re never the ones Gerringothe turns to gold.
