In the realm of speedrunning, the ingenuity of gamers often leads to the discovery of groundbreaking strategies that can drastically reduce completion times. In Baldur’s Gate 3, such innovation has reached new heights with techniques like the Shadowbear method, where a character is transformed into a massive bear to deal devastating damage, and a clever reverse-pickpocketing trick that grants access to the game’s elusive developer rooms. These methods not only showcase the creativity of the speedrunning community but also reveal the intricate mechanics that can be manipulated within the game’s world.
Shadowbear Technique
The Shadowbear technique is a novel speedrunning strategy employed by Mae, a record-holding speedrunner, to conquer bosses in Baldur’s Gate 3 with remarkable efficiency. This method revolves around the character Shadowheart, who is transformed into a formidable bear to unleash massive bludgeoning damage upon her foes. Here’s how the Shadowbear technique unfolds:
- Enlarge Shadowheart to increase her size.
- Transform the enlarged Shadowheart into a bear.
- Make the bear-form Shadowheart invisible to avoid detection.
- Use the stealthy bear to jump on the heads of bosses, dealing lethal damage due to the increased weight.
This sequence of actions results in a ‘stealth bomb’ that weighs over 5,000 kilograms, capable of defeating major adversaries like Ketheric Thorm and his final form, the avatar of Myrkul, by simply landing on them.
Accessing Developer Rooms
Speedrunner Mae has also demonstrated a fascinating technique to access the hidden developer rooms in Baldur’s Gate 3. These rooms are typically out of reach during regular gameplay and contain various test objects and characters used by the game’s designers. The process involves a series of precise actions, culminating in the use of the Benign Transposition: Teleport ability to transport the player to these concealed spaces. Below is a summary of the key steps Mae takes to achieve this:
- Locate an NPC who will transform into Orin the Red.
- Place the protagonist’s corpse into the NPC’s inventory without initiating dialogue.
- Use a mage hand to slap the NPC, causing them to transform and teleport the corpse to the dev room.
- Use Benign Transposition: Teleport to join the protagonist in the dev room.
The ingenuity of this method lies in its simplicity, requiring only a Difficulty Class 0 sleight-of-hand check to sneak a dead body into an NPC’s inventory, which is a testament to the depth of mechanics available in the game.
Dev Rooms and Final Boss Strategy
The developer rooms in Baldur’s Gate 3 are treasure troves of unique NPCs and objects that are not typically encountered during standard gameplay. These rooms contain a variety of characters, including multiple versions of Orin the Red, Dribbles the Clown, and deities such as Bane and Shar. One particularly elusive NPC is Honk the half-orc, who only appears under very specific conditions in the game.
Aside from the intriguing contents of these rooms, Mae’s speedrun also features a masterful strategy for defeating the final boss. This involves the spell Fierce Perilous Stakes, which boosts damage output. By casting magic missile at level 3, each missile inflicts damage separately, and with the bonus from Fierce Perilous Stakes applied to each missile, the final boss can be swiftly vanquished with a single casting.
This strategic use of spells and game mechanics highlights the depth of the combat system in Baldur’s Gate 3, allowing for creative approaches to challenges that can significantly cut down the time needed to complete the game.
Witnessing Mae’s speedrun of Baldur’s Gate 3, which concludes all three acts in just over half an hour, is nothing short of inspiring. It’s a stark contrast to the author’s own 194-hour journey, which has yet to see its second playthrough completed. The innovative use of the Shadowbear and the strategic exploitation of game mechanics to access developer rooms and defeat bosses with finesse serve as a reminder of the vast possibilities within the game. Motivated by Mae’s display of skill and creativity, the author is eager to dive back into the world of Baldur’s Gate 3, this time with a renewed commitment to treat Shadowheart with the kindness she deserves, steering clear of the wrathful path of the Shadowbear.
