Baldur's Gate 3 trickster deals potentially record-breaking damage to a late-game boss by giving them 87,000 gold and dealing at least 1160 damage in a single hit
Follow the money
This Baldur's Gate 3 trick attack might be the strongest single attack we've seen in Larian's RPG to date, and it all revolves around gold and pickpocketing.
You might already know about the pickpocketing damage trick in Baldur's Gate 3. It goes something like this: sneak up on a boss, give them a load of your gold, then attack them with a weapon called Twist of Fortune, a Morningstar that deals its damage again for every 300 gold that the enemy is holding.
Now we've seen the trick taken to the next level. The player below managed to slip a boss a cool 87,000 gold, and wiped them out with a brutal strike because they deal +4 piercing damage for every 300 gold the target holds. That's at least 1,160 damage to the boss in one attack,
Someone was able to instantly nuke a late game boss in Baldur’s Gate 3 by using a weapon that has an affix called “Blood Money” that deals weapon damage + 4 piercing damage for every 300 gold the target has. They reversed pickpocketed 87,000 gold into the boss’ pockets. pic.twitter.com/GCKVmzzWfoNovember 4, 2023
The player below delves into how the attack can actually deal even more damage than thought. It turns out Astarion's special 'Twist of Fortune' mace has a multiplier of 290 due to the amount of gold in the boss's pockets, which means the total damage is more like 1d8 + 1 + 1,160, which can become even greater considering any critical hits can double that damage. The point is, 1,160 is the lowest the total damage figure could be, which is mind-blowing.
The Twist of Fortune mace that Astarion is using for this is a +1 Morningstar. It does 1d8+1 damage. That much gold means it has a multiplier of 290. That means the damage (not accounting for any crits) is a minimum of: 1d8+1+1,160.The weapon ability in the game deals the damage… https://t.co/u6uDEoedUANovember 4, 2023
That's potentially enough to break the record for the highest amount of damage on a single hit seen so far in Baldur's Gate 3. That record is held by none other than a huge Owlbear, which managed to obliterate Grym with 1,170 damage when it plummeted onto the boss from above, with a special ability that dealt more damage the bigger the player character weighed. At a lowest-possible roll just below that and with each of those 290 Blood Money strikes having the potential to critically strike, this might be the deadliest hit in the entire CRPG.
Here's how to revive dead companions in Baldur's Gate 3 if your friends have fallen afoul of fate.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.