Baldur's Gate 3 - Phase Spider Matriarch Boss Fight (If you have arachnophobia this ones not for you! )

Hey Gamers

This post is going to be looking at one of the hardest boss fights in the current early access version of Baldur's Gate 3.

In the Blighted village we find a well that leads down into a spider cave area known as The Whispering Depths.Down here we find a gigantic phase spider matriarch and her brood.

In this video we recruit the help of 3 Ogre brothers and head down to the spider caves to take out the big bad spider boss.

Just across from the entrance to the well we find 3 ogres.I had planned to try and fight these guys but it turns out we can recruit them to fight for us...

"Brothers,look here.I have eyed yet another prize.Fortune favours our bellie's!"

"Stranger:be you friend or food?The Mark is Her measure:show us the brand of the Absolute."

We obtained the brand of the Absolute from Priestess Gut when we raided the Goblin Camp.So we have the option to show it to the Ogre ...

"I see it.How regrettable,that your meat must go unsavoured."

"Your quite an articulate ogre."

"Am I not astonishing?A robust diet makes for a shrewd mind,you see.I am a gourmand... "

"...and you,a delicacy - were I so lucky "

"I notice you don't bear a brand of your own. "

"I've no use for the Absolute - or any god.I follow two masters only:gluttony and greed"

"The goblins understand my appetites.They sate my hunger for gold..."

"...and the rest sate my hunger for meat"

"Forget goblins.You should be fighting for me"

"I am by all accounts a student of higher commerce and extortion."

"Make an offer.Tempt Me"

We have a few options here.We can try option 3 and try and persuade him with the flesh of the fallen.This option requires that we roll an 18 or higher.I have more than 500 gold to spare so I just offer to pay the ogre.

"A serenade to my ears,and a boon to my belly.We've a bargain ,my tasty kibble!"

"Take my bonehorn.One blow,and the ground will quake with our family name."

"Use it when the need arises - and never a moment before."

"Ogre kill everyone around!Then ogre eat them!"

"Well spoken.Indeed ,ogre 'kill everyone around' "

"We will keep close.When you are ready ,sound the horn."

With that the ogres leave and we receive Lump's Warhorn.

I guess now is a good time to discuss when is the best time to use the Ogres help.The horn has limited use ,you pay 500 gold for the first use.After they help the first time you can try deceiving them and offer 1000 for them to help a second time.Either way I figure at best you can have the Orges help you twice but there maybe options that lead to them helping more than twice.I have yet to confirm this.

So far the hardest fight I have had to do was when we tried to leave the goblin camp.We were kill on sight to everything in the courtyard and had no other option but to keep reloading a save file until we won a battle against 15 opponents.It took me around 12 attempts to do that massive battle.That's probably one of the areas that these 3 ogres would have helped a lot.

When I play through the full game I will likely recruit these 3 ogres to help me escape the goblin encampment,it would save alot of time and frustration.

So that said the next thing they are most useful for is the fight we are about to go to.The giant phase spider matriarch.

To get there we head down this well just across from the building where we met the ogres...

We have already cleared the tunnels of phase spiders and Ettercap's.I got all the way to the Matriarch and after dying half a dozen times I gave up.Hopefully this time will be different.

Even though the spiders are dead they still poison us when we walk over them...

When we walk over any webbing we need to perform an athletics check or we get enwebbed for a few seconds...

This area is a bit of a maze,while wandering around trying to find the Matriarchs area I stumbled across this little area I didn't see the last time I came down here.

A quick search of the shelfs reveals nothing of any real interest...

On the other side of the room we find a scholar's desk and a bloody journal...

" [Though originally a screed on Lolth penned in blood this book's crimson script has been smeared away in several places ,a different hand writing atop it:]

I recall my life upon the surface with more than regret.I weep for the decades spent treading the murky waters of profanity while my true queen waited in the shadow's.Even my name, 'Eliette' ',feels foreign and foul upon my tongue.

...

A high elf exalted by Lolth herself - my drow captors cannot fathom it.But I see their house's downfall in visions granted by the spider queen herself.When that day comes,when some unnamed whelp from an insignificant house cuts the matron mother's throat,I will escape.I will find solitude and I will worship Lolth with my very soul."

Next to the journal we find a strange ritual diagram...

" [An ornate diagram is drawn upon this parchment depicting a ritual of some kind.At the bottom ,two figures - a spider and an elf -are sketched within overlapping circles.A single word is penned beneath them "Transcendence" }

Other than the interesting literature it seems the only thing to loot here is some gold and a bloodstone from the heavy chest next to the desk...

Heading back out we wander around the caves some more...

And finally reach the phase spider matriarchs nesting place...

There are a couple of things that make this fight difficult.The first is the spiders ability to hatch little spider eggs an keep adding more baby spiders to the fight.The second thing is the huge poison damage attack which can easily take out a couple of your party in one shot.

If you can take out some of the eggs before the fight starts it will help a lot.I had Astarion use a thunder arrow to destroy a whole clutch of them right at the start of the fight.This worked well as these likely would have been the first ones to be hatched and added to the fight.

On the Matriarchs first turn she spawns and hatches 5 new baby spiders...

She then teleports into striking range...yeah phase spiders can do that....

She trys her poison spitting attack on my fighter but thankfully it misses...It could have been nearly fatal if it had landed...

When the spider is on these webs she is prone to taking a huge amount of falling damage if we break the webbing causing her to fall.

Next up its Shadowheart the clerics turn but she has no attacks that can target the webbing so I just went with a guiding bolt attack that did 11 damage taking the Matriarchs health from 138 to 127.

Next up its our fighters turn,he moves into range and uses action surge to give himself 2 combat rounds...

First we try hitting the web with an arrow but it only does 3 damage leaving the webbing still hanging....

A second arrow snaps the web causing the Matriarch to fall for a huge 46 damage...

A few more falls like that will kill the Matriarch ,we have her down to 81 hit points but we also have 2 full grown phase spiders and 6 baby spiders to worry about and they are all about to have a combat turn...

Before ending the fighters turn I have the option to blow Lumps war horn and summon the ogres.I figure now is as good a time as any...

The horn echoes throughout the whispering depths and we wait for the ogres to come to our aid....

While we wait one of the phase spiders teleports up and tries attacking the cleric with poison but the attack misses...

The second phase spider tries the same tactic on Gale the wizard but also misses....I guess we got lucky,no healing needed so far!

Astarion our Elven Vampire Rouge is up next.I try coating his crossbow in poison even tho I was pretty sure the poison wouldn't work against spiders....Still tho look at he potential damage output of this poison dipped crossbow...1d10 + 5 + 1d6 +1d4 poison is pretty deadly...

In this instance it only hits for total of 10 damage...

Next up Gale hits the same spider with Scorching Ray taking another 8 hitpoints of...

After Gale's turn I notice the Ogres have joined the fight,this should be interesting...

It's back to the Matriarch to take a turn, she teleports up beside our party and tries a poison attack which critically misses!We have been real lucky with these missed poison attacks,they are lethal...

Shadowheart throws another Guiding bolt,hitting the Matriarch for 17...

Before ending Shaowhearts turn we have a pretty epic screenshot opportunity of the whole party and The Matriarch...

I even caught a bat flying passed Shadowhearts head in these...

Its time for the little spiderlings to join the action...

The first one teleports over and tries an attack on Gale which misses...

The second one ports across and tries attacking Astarion but its another miss...

A third spiderling teleports over and this time lands an attack for 4 damage on Gale the wizard.You can see how alot of these little teleporting buggers could be a real problem and have your party overwhelmed fairly quickly....

Its Kilithan the fighters turn and the Matriarch is on one of the breakable webs again....its time to do some more falling damage...

Kilithan is so close to the matriarch we gotta get some epic screenshots of this menacing looking blue and red evil monstrosity!

Down she goes...

That fall caused 48 damage,the Matriarch is now down to only 16 hitpoints left and the Ogres haven't even taken a turn yet.......I think we got this!

A phase spider ports up and this time hits Shadowheart with its poison for 12 damage...

The second phase spider does the same thing hitting Gale for 5 damage...

Its Astarions turn,I decide to use another thunder arrow and try knocking the 2 phase spiders of the cliff...

This worked well killing one of the spiders instantly and sending the other flying of the cliff for 15 falling damage....

Astarion can also use his Vampire bite on this turn,one of the spiderlings is close enough to bite...

Astarion sucks its spidery blood causing 5 damage...all in all a good turn for Astarion..

Its Gales time to shine...he whips up a scorching ray and takes out the 2 spiderlings...

The loss of 3 of her brood seems to send the Matriarch into some sort of frenzy...she activates her spider queen wrath and her horrendous eyes start glowing red ...

With deadly vengeance in her eyes she teleports back up to our party and instantly takes out our Cleric and Wizard.....oh shit....

With 2 of our party down and the Matriarch on her last legs finally the first of the Ogres makes it to the fight...

Only to miss his first attack...

The other 2 ogres are still running toward the fight...great hopefully you guys get here before this wrath filled spider queen wipes my whole party....

Its Kilithans turn,he has a a chance to end this nightmare now.He downs a potion of hill giant strength...

Lines up his attack...

Only to miss completely....

One of the Ogres better do something quickly or else its Dwarf on the menu next for the spider queen...

The remaining phase spider spits poison at one of the ogres causing 5 damage...

Astarion tries attacking but also misses...

Its the Matriarchs turn and she sets her sights on Chock the Ogre ...her first attack takes 22 of his 49 hit points of...

Then she follows up with another attack leaving him with only 3 hit points left...damn this bitch almost killed an ogre in 1 turn!

In retaliation Chock swings his club and critically hits the Matriarch for 25...ending her rein of terror...

With the matriarch dead Chock heads over to the 2 smaller spiders...

The remaining 2 Ogre brothers are still making there way towards the fight...

Its Kilithans turn ,he resurrects the fallen cleric...

A spiderling tries to bite Chock but misses...

The bigger phase spider sneaks around to the side of Chock and kills him...vengence for its mother I guess..

Astarion fires his crossbow at the phase spider dealing 6 damage...

Shadowheart lines up a guiding bolt but misses...

The 2 Ogre brothers finally arrive and Lump kills the spider with a shot of Melf's Acid Arrow...

Kilthan revives Gale now we have our full party back up...

With the team all back together we pose for a Glory shot around the Matriarchs dead body...

A spiderling comes running in hot trying to ruin the party...

It tries to bite Gale but thankfully misses...

Perhaps sensing Gales anger the little spiderling teleports beside its dead mother for safety....

Gale whips up a scorching ray...

Aims it at the cowering spiderling...

And lets forth a blaze of fiery fury...

In spite of that fiery inferno the spiderling still has 1 hitpoint remaining ...

Shadowheart splats it with her mace...

Now Gale is free to loot the Matriarchs corpse.She drops a robe that adds 1D4 poison damage to Gales poison attacks.

Gale shows of his ,fancy new Poisoner's Robe

I guess the robe is worth the effort to come down here and fight the spider for.There is also a story item down here which I didn't include in the video and I have no screen shots for.Its a piece of amethyst which I believe is needed to open a locked box found in a different area of the game.I will explore that story more in another post.

For now lets wrap this one up...

"The deal is done" says Lump as a filth and spider poison encrusted Astarion runs past us...

"Shall we extend our contract?"

"What use does an ogre have for gold?"

"Is gold not the pilot of our world-vessel?I am a proud glutton -and not just for meat"

"Ill pay generously -after the next fight.(1000 gold)"I choose the deception option.If you save your game here you will be able to reroll until you are successful here.

We only need to roll an 11 ,I guess its not that hard to deceive an Ogre even if he is enlightened.

We only rolled a 10 here.I didn't bother re rolling as I am almost done with this early access version of the game but in the full game I would reload to make sure I have the help of the ogres at least one more time.

"Come now-an ogre feasts not on promises"

"Our deal is done.I wish you well."

"Without so much as a lick of that mouth-watering meat of yours"

"Not even a lick"

"A pity for us both.Until later"

With that the Ogres take of and we head back to camp to rest and prepare for our next adventure.