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Hello, Gamers!
Welcome to this comprehensive guide on how to defeat Commander Zhalk, the tutorial boss in Baldur’s Gate 3. This early encounter sets the stage for the thrilling adventures ahead, offering significant rewards for those who dare to face this formidable foe. Let’s delve into the strategies and preparations necessary to emerge victorious from this optional yet rewarding battle.
Before engaging Commander Zhalk, it’s crucial to make dedicated “hard” saves. This practice, known as “save scumming,” allows for strategic reloads during various phases of the fight, offering a chance to revise tactics for better outcomes.
Assembling Your Party
Your initial team composition plays a pivotal role in this encounter. Regardless of your character’s primary role, ensuring Tav contributes to the damage output is essential. Utilize a mix of Cantrips, melee, or ranged attacks to keep the pressure on Zhalk. In multiplayer mode, remember that while having more players provides a numerical advantage, it also means competition for loot.
Essential Companions
Lae’zel, a formidable fighter, is an automatic addition to your team. Recruiting Shadowheart, a versatile cleric, is highly recommended for her healing and support abilities. Additionally, saving the Intellect Devourer Pet named Us can prove beneficial for its unique abilities to interact with the environment and provide healing.
Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Get Us on the Nautiloid
You can carry Us with you throughout the tutorial, and it will help you in the fights to come.
If Lae’zel is your origin character, you gain another temporary ally, Losiir, another Githyanki Fighter with similar capabilities to Lae’zel.
Take some time to switch up Shadowheart’s kit before you begin the encounter. Make sure she hasHealing Word,Command, andBlessto make your lives easier through the fight. Her buffs will be invaluable, and her ability to heal the Mindflayer is extremely important. The loadout that I used for her had those spells - they should be all you will need to cast.
Fighting Commander Zhalk
The battle unfolds on the bridge of a Nautiloid, where Zhalk and his minions are engaged in combat with a Mindflayer. This Illithid serves as a temporary ally, so your strategy should aim to eliminate Zhalk’s forces while keeping the Mindflayer in play.
Don’t bother trying to hit Commander Zhalk with a Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wounds - your chances to hit him are extremely low, and you should not be wasting Spell Slots trying to do damage with Shadowheart. Focus on the Mindflayer, and using Shadowheart to support it, as it will do more damage than anyone in your party can at this point. Use Healing Word on the Mindflayer when it starts to take some damage, and use your second Spell Slot to eitherBless the Mindflayer or user Command: Drop on Zhalk.
you’re able to win the fight by either strategy, but a successful Command: Drop on Commander Zhalk will significantly decrease the amount of damage (and therefore heals) you need to use on the Mindflayer.
Tips for a Tactical Approach
you’re able to find Nautiloid tanks throughout the ship in addition to the ones you can find in the Commander Zhalk room itself. Take some extra time to pick them up throughout the ship before you begin this encounter.
As Zhalk and the Mindflayer fight, use Shadowheart to heal the Mindflayer as it loses health. If you feel like trying, you can give the MindflayerBlessto give it an extra edge in combat. Additionally, you can use Command: Drop on Zhalk to make him drop his weapon (which you can subsequently pick up, if you choose)so that he does less damage to the Mindflayer.
Your focus should be on letting the Mindflayer do the most damage for you.Do your best to keep his health up and do damage on Lae’zel or Tav/Durge, but don’t be surprised if you miss a lot - these monsters have very high AC.
Once both the Mindflayer and Zhalk are low enough, use those explosives mentioned above to killboth bosses. You may need to reload a couple of times, as the Mindflayer is incredibly good at missing Commander Zhalk with its attacks.
If you find that you are running dangerously low on Spell Slots for Shadowheart, do not fear. You can shuffle your health potions from Lae’zel and Tav/Durge over to her, and use her toThrowHealth Potions at the Mindflayer to heal it. It’s best not to use her to attack at all throughout this fight, and instead you will want to have her focus on just straight supporting the Mindflayer. You will use Lae’zel, Tav/Durge, and Us (if you have it) to fight any squishies and Commander Zhalk himself.
Victory and Spoils
Upon defeating Commander Zhalk and the Mindflayer, seize theEverburn Blade, a magical greatsword that inflicts additional fire damage. This weapon serves as an excellent choice for characters like Lae’zel or Karlach, or any melee-focused respecs, and remains valuable throughout much of the game.
Everburn Blade
If time constraints arise, use Us to activate the control panel, advancing the story to Act 1. However, if the opportunity allows, collect any remaining loot and address residual threats before proceeding.
Defeating Commander Zhalk is a challenging yet rewarding endeavor that sets a strong foundation for your Baldur’s Gate 3 adventure. With the right preparation, strategy, and a bit of tactical save management, you can turn this early encounter into a significant victory, paving the way for the epic journey ahead. In addition to all this, and of course bragging rights, you will have the absolute strongest start that you can have in Baldur’s Gate 3. When you exit the tutorial, you will already be able to level up to Level 2, and will have a huge chunk of experience under your belt to get to Level 3 (if you managed to kill both Zhalk and the Mindflayer especially).
