Baldur’s Gate 3 player defeats boss by making it so dumb it dies

A Steel Watch monster in Baldur's Gate 3Larian Studios

A Baldur’s Gate 3 player has defeated one of the most punishing bosses in the game by erasing its mind, making it so stupid that it drops dead.

The Steel Watch in Baldur’s Gate 3 are among the most fearsome enemies in the game. They’re the robotic servants of Enver Gortash, which he uses to police the streets of Baldur’s Gate and spy on the civilians, using their incredible might to stamp out any resistance.

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Finding a way to defeat the Steel Watch is one of the most difficult tasks in Act III of Baldur’s Gate 3. Attempting to defeat Gortash without disabling his metal servants means you’re in for an incredibly difficult fight, as he is already a powerful foe and his robots make him nigh unbeatable.

If you track down the Steel Watch Foundry, you can shut it down for good, but it’s well protected. Those who enter the inner sanctum must defeat the Steel Watch Titan, a formidable magic construct that will decimate unprepared adventurers.

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Steel Watch members in the city of Baldur's GateLarian Studios

The Steel Watch Titan in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be defeated by absorbing its Intelligence stat

It turns out that there’s a simple method for defeating the Steel Watch Titan. A user on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit has revealed that you can defeat the Steel Watch Titan by making it so dumb that it dies.

As Baldur’s Gate 3 uses D&D 5E rules, each character in the game consists of six stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. If you drain any of these stats to zero, the target instantly dies, regardless of their hit point total.

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The Steel Watch Titan has an Intelligence score of 6, so it was killed using Absorb Intellect, one of the Illithid Powers you can unlock. After having its Intelligence score drained to zero, the foe died despite being a magical robot and having no mind of its own.

Usually, draining an enemy’s stats is a bad idea in Baldur’s Gate 3, especially for boss monsters, who tend to have the highest stats in the game. The Steel Watch Titan is a unique example due to its unusually low Intelligence stat, making it susceptible to Mind Flayer magic.

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One of the best parts about Baldur’s Gate 3 is its sheer number of solutions to problems. Few players would have expected to kill a massive robot by draining its brain, but the developers made it possible for those bold enough to attempt it.