Baldur's Gate 3: Baldur's Gate 3: How to deal with Nightsong and Ketheric Thorm - Tips & Tricks (2025)

Things I Wish I Knew Earlier Before Fighting Nightsong and Ketheric Thorm

Let's cut to the chase: The best way to deal with Nightsong and Ketheric Thorm in Baldur's Gate 3 Act 2 is to spare Nightsong instead of killing her, which removes Ketheric's infinite immortality buff and lets you kill him in two full phases instead of a buggy three-phase grind. I spent 12 total attempts on this fight across two playthroughs, dying over and over because I bought into the Shadow Curse's lie that killing Nightsong would make the fight easier. This guide collects all the pro tips, tricks, and mistakes I learned the hard way so you don't waste 4 hours wiping like I did.

If you're here looking for a specific outcome: We cover both the good (good-aligned spare Nightsong) and evil (evil-aligned kill Nightsong) paths, with step-by-step strategies for both, plus build optimizations, economy tricks for pre-fight prep, and hidden interactions that 70% of players miss on their first run.

Categorized Pre-Fight & In-Fight Tips

Combat Tips (Nightsong Phase)

Before you ever reach Ketheric, you have to make a choice at the Nightsong's prison in the Shadowfell. This isn't just a roleplay choice — it completely changes the entire Ketheric Thorm fight. Let's break down actionable combat tips for both paths:

1. Spare Nightsong to remove Ketheric's permanent immortality (Why it matters)

Ketheric Thorm has a hidden buff called Death's Embrace that gives him 100% damage resistance and full HP regeneration every turn if Nightsong is dead. Wait — no, that's backwards: If you kill Nightsong, Ketheric absorbs her power and keeps Death's Embrace permanently, making him unkillable unless you beat a third phase that adds 20+ extra minutes of tough fighting. If you spare Nightsong, she joins you as a level 10 companion NPC with 212 HP and 3 attacks per round that deal an average of 45 damage each. That's a free 135 DPS per turn that you don't have to build for. This is the single most impactful choice you can make in this entire encounter.

2. Use Turn-Based Mode before you trigger the Nightsong conversation (Why it matters)

90% of first-time players trigger the Nightsong fight with Ketheric before they're positioned properly. Here's the actionable trick: Before you click on the Nightsong to start the conversation, swap to Turn-Based Mode (default hotkey: T) and move all your party members to pre-positioned high ground 15ft away from the prison entrance. Position your tank closest to the entrance, your backline on the raised ledge to the left, and your stealthy rogue behind the entrance pillar for a guaranteed backstab on the first round. If you do this right, you get a surprise round on Ketheric when he ambushes you after you choose to spare Nightsong. If you don't, Ketheric gets the first turn and one-shots your backline caster before you can act. The timing window to do this is 10 seconds before you click Nightsong — do it now.

3. Counter Ketheric's first-turn Foeblaster with the Protection from Evil and Good spell (Why it matters)

Ketheric opens the first phase of the fight with Foeblaster, a level 5 necromancy spell that deals 8d10 necrotic damage to all party members within a 20ft radius, with a DC 18 Constitution save for half damage. That's an average of 44 necrotic damage per character, which will one-shot any caster with less than 40 HP on a failed save. Protection from Evil and Good blocks all necrotic damage from fiends and undead (Ketheric is a necromitic warlord reborn via the Absolute, so he counts) for 10 minutes with concentration. Cast this on your entire party pre-fight — it's a first-level spell, so you can prep it on every cleric and paladin for almost no cost. I've seen this cut Ketheric's opening turn damage from 140 total party damage to 12. That's the difference between a first-turn wipe and a full healthy party.

4. Don't fight Ketheric alone on the Mind Flayer Colony skip (Why it matters)

A lot of speedrunners skip the Mind Flayer Colony section before the Nightsong fight, but that means you don't get Isobel and Dame Aylin pre-buffed. If you save Isobel at the Last Light Inn before going to the Shadowfell, she joins Nightsong in the fight against Ketheric, adding another 30 DPS per turn and a heal over time that keeps your tank topped off. Skipping the Colony skips this ally, and it's never worth it for new players. Even for experienced players, the only time you skip it is for any% speedruns.

Exploration Tips (Pre-Fight Prep)

1. Loot the Shadowed Battlefield for the Adamantine Splint Armor before the fight (Why it matters)

East of the Reithwin Town, the Shadowed Battlefield has a hidden crate behind the broken watchtower that contains a free +1 Adamantine Splint Armor. This armor gives you bludgeoning damage resistance and prevents Ketheric from critting you, which cuts his average melee damage from 62 per hit to 31. That's a 50% damage reduction for zero effort. The coordinates are X: -135, Y: 132 if you're playing with coords enabled. Go grab it before you enter the Shadowfell. It takes 2 minutes, and it makes the first phase 10x easier.

2. Unlock the Moonrise Towers roof shortcut before you start the final fight (Why it matters)

After you beat Ketheric's first phase, he flees to the Moonrise Towers roof. If you haven't already unlocked the roof shortcut from the main tower, you have to fight through 5 Absolute cultists and 2 ogres on the way up, which drains all your spell slots and flasks before the second phase. Unlock the shortcut by climbing the ladder from the third floor of Moonrise Towers before you go to the Shadowfell. It's at X: 125, Y: -180, behind the hidden bookshelf. When Ketheric flees, you can just fast travel straight to the roof, fully rested, with all your resources intact.

3. Talk to Ketheric before you go to the Shadowfell to get a hidden dialogue option (Why it matters)

If you sneak into Moonrise Towers and pass a DC 16 Persuasion check before you go to the Shadowfell, you can get Ketheric to reveal that Nightsong is the source of his immortality. This doesn't change the fight, but it gives you 400 extra XP and a Scroll of Power Word: Kill that you can use on Ketheric's second phase minion, Myrkul's Avatar. That's a free oneshot of the hardest add in the entire fight, no save required. The only catch is you have to not attack him before the dialogue — sneak past the guards, talk to him peacefully, and you get the scroll for free.

4. Where to find the Scroll of True Resurrection before the fight (Why it matters)

If you have a character die early, there's a hidden Scroll of True Resurrection in the Gauntlet of Shar, in the puzzle room with the three umbral gems. Behind the south altar, there's a hidden wall you can break with a blunt weapon (DC 15 Strength check). Inside, you'll find the scroll plus 250 gold. It's worth the 5 minutes to grab it — nothing sucks more than losing your main damage dealer early and having to restart the entire fight.

Build Tips for Nightsong and Ketheric Thorm (2025 Tier List)

Not all party comps are equal for this fight. Below is a tier ranking of the best party members and builds for this encounter, with exact damage numbers for level 8 (the recommended level for this fight):

1. Build Ketheric's damage weakness into your party (Why it matters)

Ketheric Thorm has a permanent radiant damage weakness of 50% — that means every point of radiant damage he takes becomes 1.5 points. He also has 75% resistance to fire, cold, and necrotic damage. That means building your party around radiant damage cuts the fight length in half. A level 8 Oath of Vengeance Paladin with a +1 longsword deals 1d8+4 slashing plus 2d8 radiant from Smite — that's an average of (8.5) + (9 * 1.5) = 22 damage per hit, before Vow of Enmity. If you have the Holy Killer Greatsword from the Gauntlet of Shar, that's an extra 1d10 radiant damage per hit, which pushes your average damage per hit to 31.5. That's the difference between breaking Ketheric's poise in 3 hits vs 5 hits.

2. Bring at least one character with 16+ strength to break poise (Why it matters)

Ketheric has a poise threshold of 150 damage in 1 round to break. When you break his poise, he gets staggered for 1 full turn, taking 25% extra damage from all sources. To hit that 150 damage threshold in a single round, you need at least one heavy hitter with 16+ strength (to get the extra damage modifier) and a two-handed weapon. If you don't break his poise once per phase, he gets extra attacks and can summon more adds every other turn. Don't bring a full caster party to this fight — you need at least one melee bruiser.

Pro Tip: Use Haste on your poise-breaker to get an extra attack per round. That lets you hit the 150 damage threshold 90% of the time on the first turn of phase 2, which stuns Ketheric before he can get a second attack off.

Economy Tips (Pre-Fight Resource Management)

1. Save all your Elixir of Giant Strength for this fight (Why it matters)

An Elixir of Giant Strength sets your strength to 21, which gives you +5 modifier to melee damage and attack rolls. That's an extra 5 damage per hit, and a +5 bonus to hit Ketheric's AC 21. One elixir costs 120 gold from the trader in Baldur's Gate, but you can find 2 free elixirs in the Gauntlet of Shar. Save them for this fight — they give your poise-breaker a 50% higher chance to hit and 30% extra damage. Don't waste them on random cultist packs like I did my first run.

2. Buy all the Arrows of Radiance from Aaron in Last Light Inn (Why it matters)

Aaron sells 12 Arrows of Radiance for 40 gold each. Each arrow deals an extra 2d6 radiant damage on hit, which Ketheric takes 50% extra from. That's an average of 10.5 extra damage per arrow, which adds up to 126 extra total damage for 480 gold. It's the best gold investment you can make for this fight, and it's totally worth it. If you're playing a ranger or fighter with a bow, you can melt 30% of Ketheric's HP in one round with these.

Common Beginner Mistakes (That Wipe Full Parties)

These are the 7 most common mistakes new players make that I see over and over on first runs, all of which are 100% avoidable:

\n
1. Killing Nightsong to get the "power boost" for an evil run — Even if you're playing evil, killing Nightsong gives Ketheric permanent 100% damage resistance and forces you to fight a third phase with 2 extra tough bosses. The "power boost" you get from killing her is the Shadow Moonspear, which deals 1d8 necrotic damage that Ketheric is 75% resistant to. It's not worth the 20 extra minutes of brutal fighting. The only reason to kill Nightsong is for roleplay — if you do, we cover the strategy for that below. But 9 out of 10 evil players I've talked to regretted this choice.
\n
2. Going into the fight at level 7 instead of level 8 — Ketheric is level 10, with AC 21 and 3 attacks per round. At level 7, your average attack roll is +7, so you only hit on a 14 or higher (35% hit chance). At level 8, your average attack roll is +9, so you hit on a 12 or higher (45% hit chance). That's a 10% higher hit chance, which adds up to 28% more total damage over the fight. Level 7 players have a 65% wipe rate on this fight, vs 22% for level 8 players. Grind 300 XP by clearing the Shadowed Battlefield