One of the most notoriously frustrating challenges inBaldur’s Gate 3is rescuing the prisoners in the Iron Throne, Gortash’s underwater “command center,” aka prison, where Omeluum, Duke Ravengard, and others are being held. The encounter islimited to just a few rounds depending on the difficulty level,and the prisoners are interspersed across the map in tricky locations. Freeing these prisoners is a difficult task in itself, but on top of that, the area has been prone to glitches and bugs, frustrating players who put in a lot of time planning or strategizing before their descent into the prison.
The Iron Throne area is linked to various quests, such asRetrieve Omeluum and Avenge the Drowned, and failing to rescue any of these characters has dramatic consequences for the story overall, and impacts who will aid players in the battles ahead. This makes bugs especially unfortunate, considering major story characters such as Grand Duke Ravengard and Wyll’s relationship quest are on the line. Luckily,Larian has released a hotfix that will hopefully address some of the pathfinding issuesthat some prisoners were having.
Why BG3’s “Iron Throne Quest” Is So Difficult
The Iron Throne Must Be Completed In Just A Few Rounds
Whether playing on Honour Mode or Explorer, opening the hatch to the Iron Throne triggers a countdown timer based on the party’s difficulty level. Players will have a limited number of turnsto save everyone they canbefore the entire place is flooded,drowning all prisoners and failing any quests associated with them. This is one of the more challenging encounters in the game because of the turn limit, but also because planning out the correct path for each character in the party and avoiding the Sahaguin enemies is crucial.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Is It Worth It To Save The Gondians In The Iron Throne?
“Save the Gondians” is one of the more difficult quests in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it has serious consequences. Is it really worth all the effort?
However, the difficulty of saving everyone is exacerbated by the number of glitches in the Iron Throne prison. Imagine finally getting all the prisoners back to the center of the map to escape,only to find that they will not climb the ladder to the submersible. One bug affecting pathfinding in this area causes certain prisoners to fail to take their turn climbing the ladders back into the submersible to escape. After players direct the prisoners to head to the submersible, instead of climbing up to safety, they end up walking aimlessly around the chamber, refusing to climb up.
Why Saving Everyone In The Underwater Prison Is Easier Now
Larian Released A Hotfix That Might Help Prisoners Escape
On October 1, Larian released Hotfix #27 with a rather vague note that will hopefully make the underwater prison easier:“Reminded characters how to use ladders.“While it isn’t entirely clear if this particular note will affect the Iron Throne prisoners' behavior as they interact with the ladders leading to the submersible, the implication is thatanycharacters interacting with ladders will be more likely to actually climb them. This is great news for anyone attempting to save all the prisoners in the underwater prison and furthering all the quests associated with those characters.
Omeluum can teleport himself and one other player to the submersible, so be sure to utilize this unique ability when planning your rescue.
For most updates and hotfixes to major areas such as the Iron Throne,Larian typically will specify that the update applies to that particular area. Because they didn’t designate that here means there’s no guarantee that the ambiguous ladder note will solve the pathfinding bugs occurring once prisoners have reached the base of the submersible ladders. However, assuming that this hotfix notedoesapply to the Iron Throne encounter, one of the most frustrating and challenging areas of the game just got a lot easier.
