If there’s one thingBaldur’s Gate 3fans are majorly guilty of, it’s never using their consumable items. Many players will find themselves with an inventory full of arrows and oils by the end of act three, and not even use any against the Netherbrain. you may always reload or replenish your supplies, so being a bit less stingy with your resources can make fights a lot easier.
Adding something new to your combat techniques is also a fun way of spicing things up, as you may become bored of spamming the same actions in every battle. It’s good to take lots of different items with you so you can form various tactics down the line, butthere’s one item that you really shouldn’t be ignoring.Better yet, you can obtain this item as early as Act One.
Most Players Waste Or Don’t Use The Iron Flask In Baldur’s Gate 3
One Of BG3’s Most Powerful Items Can Be Found In The First Act
The Iron flask is found in the locked box inside the Risen Road Cave in Act One - if the box is delivered to Zarys, it can later be stolen from theZhentarim member Slick Inatrain Act Three.Opening the flask by throwing or interacting with it will release a spectator, a hostile level five abberation.These creatures are a lesser form of the iconic Beholder, and are the closest things thatBG3players get to coming face to face - or perhaps eye to eye - with one of them.
If you summon the spectator in the Shadow-Cursed lands and allow it to transform into a Shadow-Cursed undead, then you can prevent it from attacking you in battle by casting Control Undead on it. You’ll have to fight and weaken the spectator first for it to receive this condition. The easiest place to kill the spectator is bycrushing it in the Admantine Forge, but you’ll be much better off using it to get the upper hand in a fight.
However, great power like this comes with great responsibility, and many players will hang onto the flask, but never use it. Having an entire spectator at your disposal can be quite overwhelming - not to mention dangerous.Opening the flask by interacting with it normally will summon the creature right on top of your player avatar, which is inconvenient at best, and game-ending at worst, particularly in harder gamemodes and earlier in the story. Despite this, there is a correct way to use it to your advantage.
The Spectator Can Fight Enemies For You, As Long As You Don’t Get In Its Way
Be Careful: The Creature Is Hostile To Everything, Including Your Party
If you hide and keep to the sidelines,throwing the Iron flask onto a boss or group of enemies will cause the spectator to initiate combat with them. This is a very efficient way of dealing with hordes of enemies, or keeping them distracted before you deal the final blows. One place where you may find it comes in handy is thegoblin camp - alongside lump’s ogres,you can sit back while the NPCs do your work for you.
Though keep in mind,the spectator doesn’t discriminate when it comes to its targets,so keep an eye on the fight if youwant to save the Owlbear cub.Another fight that you can essentially cheese your way through is against the second spectator near the petrified drow in the Underdark - your own spectator is quite literally an even match for it. Any place where you can easily isolate enemies and corner them with the creature will often spell out their defeat.
Even when it comes to harder bosses who can evidently handle the spectator alone, it’s still a good tactic to throw them into combatto allow your minion to soften them up a bit.Orin is one ofBG3’s penultimate bossesand one of the trickiest characters to fight. With the help of the Iron flask, you can make her boss battle a lot easier for yourself. Reddit userThe-Infusorshared how they were able to keep Orin distracted by the spectator while they picked off her followers.
Using The Flask Can Earn You A Legendary Item In Act One
Throwing The Flask At Powerful Enemies You Wouldn’t Normally Fight Can Help You Get Some Overpowered Loot
If you’re looking to get an extremely powerful weapon early on, then throwing the Iron Flask at Kith’rak Voss and the rest of his githyanki patrol is an easy way to obtain theSilver Sword of the Astral Planetwo acts early. Most players will approach this by castingCommand, but considering thatVoss has a large bonus to wisdom saving throws, this tactic will usually cause you to have to reload several times. The spectator fighting him is a much more efficient solution, since the githyanki patrol is one of the hardest battles you can trigger in Act One.
Notably, you should only do this if you’ve had a chance to explore Lae’zel’s arc in another playthrough. Voss being dead complicates the plot, especially when it comes toconvincing Lae’zel to side with Orpheus. If you’re already familiar with Lae’zel’s story or want to get through Honor mode by any means possible, this weapon is a fantastic tool to help you tear down your enemies in Act Two. It’s one of the few weapons inBaldur’s Gate 3that provides bonuses for gith, so having Lae’zel or a githyanki Tav equip this can be very overpowered.
