In Baldur’s Gate 3, not everything goes according to plan. Sometimes, in these situations, decisions must be made that are riskier than Plan A – but can be much more effective and exciting at the same time.
Which item is being referred to? It’s a mysterious, oddly grinning bottle. It can be found in the first act of Baldur’s Gate 3 in a crate that was meant to be delivered to the Zhentarim. Players can decide whether to hand over the found delivery to the trade network or take a look at the goods themselves.
The iron bottle found in the delivery, however, contains a powerful monster, a so-called “Spectator”: a floating aberration with a large, staring eye. With its eyestalks, the Spectator can emit rays that can confuse, frighten, paralyze, or injure a target.
These creatures are hardly controllable, and are described in the game as “aggressive and greedy abominations” that “despise all other spectators or inferior beings.” Yet this very characteristic can be used to one’s advantage in the game. A randomly appearing Spectator can create plenty of chaos in various battles – chaos that can lead to success.
Here you can see the animated short film for Patch 8 in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Just one throw and watch the chaos unfold
How do you use the item and its content? During a fight, you can select the iron bottle and throw it to the location where the Spectator is to wreak havoc. Large groups of enemies are ideal here so that the monster can draw all the attention, but even single powerful bosses can be frightened and weakened by the Spectator.
However, it remains important to emphasize that the Spectator is still hostile towards you and will not hesitate to attack you as well. Employing this maneuver comes with high risk, but with good strategy or as a last resort (for example, in Honor Mode), it can be very effective.
In which situations is using it particularly sensible? The community shares on Reddit in what situations using the bottle and the Spectator was particularly effective.
A post with nearly 11,000 upvotes on Reddit shows that many players throw the Spectator into the crowd at the Goblin Camp in the first act – but of course only after the little owlbear has gotten to safety.
But even in other cases, the Spectator was able to save the situation – or make it worse:
“I used it during my first playthrough during the fight with Myrkul,” writes barely_a_whisper on Reddit, “I positioned myself so that [the Spectator] was on the side with the necromites, and distracted them all.” In this way, Myrkul lacks the necessary worshippers to supply him with freshly sacrificed HP during the fight.
“I kept forgetting it […], until I finally threw it at Gortash and his buddies,” reports msiwork on Reddit, “I expected the Spectator to die in one round, but it actually killed everyone except Gortash and never attacked anyone from my team. I really felt like it was an ally.”
“I made the mistake and opened it in the camp,” admits Gubbins95, but with about 800 upvotes on Reddit, he is not alone in his mishap.
The delivery that includes the bottle with the Spectator can be found in the first act near the fight with the gnolls, who have it out for a few other members of the Zhentarim. It is located right at the entrance of the cave where the suppliers were ambushed by the monsters. So, you don’t have to search through all the crates of the first act – a habit you should generally try to break: Players inspect all 17,412 crates in Baldur’s Gate 3, so you don’t have to
