Baldur’s Gate 3 provides you with dozens of ways to defeat bosses, whether with spells, sword, or even just through words. One of the most popular and powerful methods is “Barrelmancy.” It’s so powerful that it even defeated a player’s gaming PC.
Spoiler warning: This is about the final boss and the absolute ending of Baldur’s Gate 3.
This is the boss fight:
- At the very end of Baldur’s Gate 3, you face the Elder Brain or the Netherbrain, the “Absolute,” which you encounter throughout the game. The brain is the source of the larvae and their mysterious powers.
- The final fight is quite challenging in itself. You first have to fight your way through a tower full of enemies, then face a dragon and several mind flayers, and finally reach a door to the brain.
- As if that wasn’t enough, you also have a time limit, because after a certain number of rounds, you simply lose. Unless, of course, you one-shot the boss…
This is how the player defeated the boss: The key term here is “Barrelmancy,” or “barrel magic.” Barrelmancy is the strongest school of magic of all and can be used by any character.
Somewhat more seriously: the name was given by fans due to the fact that explosive barrels, bombs, and the like stack their damage and have led to absurd explosions in Divinity: Original Sin that can destroy everything and everyone.
A player has now collected barrels, bombs, and other objects available throughout the game. In the end, she has 151 items that she bundles into a bag and then throws at the Elder Brain before the frontal cortex.
The bag opens, all items stack in one spot, and one fire arrow later, the boss explodes in an inferno – and the PC crashes immediately (via TikTok).
Patch 8 gives new reasons to replay Baldur’s Gate 3
Barrel magic is a popular method for dealing with particularly tough opponents. However, you normally don’t need 151 bombs for that – about 20 is plenty for most bosses.
Right now, this tip might be useful for many players who want to replay Baldur’s Gate 3. Because with Patch 8, new endings have been added to the game, at least if you are mean enough.
With Barrelmancy, you can trivialize annoying bosses like Ketheric Thorm, Asur, or Raphael completely. You only need one character who is strong enough to carry all the barrels. A barbarian like Karlach is perfect for this.
For many fans, barrel magic is more of an exploit than “honest” gameplay, and they prefer to forgo it because they want to prove their skill. And that is also possible without any problems, as completely absurd builds and strong combinations are available even without barrels: Player is so afraid of the toughest boss in Baldur’s Gate 3 that he prepares perfectly and defeats him effortlessly
