Malus Thorm is one of three boss fights that you can stumble across in the Shadowlands in Baldur’s Gate 3. All three of these fights can be rather challenging if you have to go toe to toe with them. But Malus Thorm in particular can be a massive pain for those who are unprepared. So, here’s a quick guide to defeating Malus Thorm in Baldur’s Gate 3.
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Baldur’s Gate 3: How to defeat Malus Thorm
If you’re planning on taking down Malus Thorm with your silver tongue, we’ve got a separate guide that covers how to persuade the Thorms perfectly. For this guide, we’ll strictly go over how to defeat Malus Thorm in combat. If you’re still looking for this boss, head over to the House of Healing which lies to the northwest of the Moonrise Towers.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Malus Thorm is joined in the fight by four Sisters who all wield crude surgical tools as weapons. The man himself is level 7, while his entourage are all level 6. It’s safe to say that you should at least be level 6 yourself before starting this fight. However, being level 7 or 8 would make it far easier.
Focus on the Sisters
The first thing you want to do is defeat the Sisters that back up Malus Thorm in Baldur’s Gate 3. They are seriously nasty and can do all sorts of things like toss paralysis poisons and give Thorm more weapons. While they’re around they will make Malus Thorm far more difficult to defeat. Luckily they only have 48 HP each, so they shouldn’t be too hard to take out. If you aren’t planning on talking to Malus Thorm at all you can kickstart the fight with a powerful spell to get in some early damage which I’d recommend doing.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
One tactic that worked well for me was casting Cloud of Daggers on the group near the beginning of the fight. Try and do this quickly because the sisters will eventually split up and spread themselves out. When this happens, have your party focus on one sister at a time and repeat this until all of them are dead. I found that staying within the small corridor that descends into the room was great since it funneled the Sisters towards me perfectly.
Now once some of the sisters are dead, Malus Thorm will start to resurrect them. They only come back with 12 HP though, so a well-placed arrow or spell should deal with them swiftly as they arise. My Warlock character has Psionic Backlash which is a reaction that lets me deal 1d4 Psychic damage to an enemy that uses a spell. So effectively, whenever Thorm brought a sister back, it was an opportunity for guaranteed damage.
It’s Malus Thorm’s turn
As the Sisters start going down, this is where you want to focus more of your attention on Malus Thorm. He has an AC of 18, so you’re likely to miss a lot of attacks. So make sure you apply some buffs to attack rolls where possible. The Oil of Accuracy adds +2 to attack rolls, and you can use Bless to give allies a 1d4 bonus to attack rolls as well. It’s also worth noting that Malus Thorm has Magic Resistance which gives him an advantage on saving throws from magic attacks. So try not to use spells on him, instead try whacking him with a big sword. He’s resistant to Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning damage too, but at least those attacks are free.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
With all that said, Malus Thorm can hit hard in Baldur’s Gate 3. He can easily deal 40 damage per hit if the Sisters are able to give him a surgical tool. And even without that, he can use Multiattack which has constantly killed my party members in various attempts. So make sure you keep plenty of healing potions on hand to bring people back from their downed status. Better yet, bring a Cleric or Paladin with a decent healing spell.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
There isn’t much you can do if the rolls aren’t in your favor in this fight, unfortunately. And you can’t even spread your party out too far due to the Shadowlands curse that lurks in the area. So my best advice is to take the encounter slowly and keep your health topped up. Don’t be afraid to use your healing items and refrain from using offensive magic with your healers to conserve spell slots.
With enough tenacity and patience, it won’t be long before Malus Thorm is dealt with in Baldur’s Gate 3. And for your troubles, you’ll receive the Surgeon’s Subjugation Amulet which lets you paralyze enemies when you land a critical hit. This would work brilliantly with a Fighter that has the Champion subclass.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PC.
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