Baldur's Gate 3 is full of harrowing encounters and deadly enemies, especially when playing the game in Honour Mode. Certain bosses, like Ketheric Thorm, can end runs if players don't prepare for them adequately. But many of these fights are required to reach the end of the game, so players must find ways through, either by leveling their party up or taking advantage of the many magic items BG3 provides.

But not every fight is required, and a staggering number of brutal fights aren't necessary at all to reach the game's end. Baldur's Gate 3 allows players to sneak past or outmaneuver certain enemies, and even talk their way out of violent scenarios. As such, it's possible to skirt around many of the game's most challenging encounters with a bit of know-how. But for players who want to challenge their party, these ten optional fights are among the most difficult they can attempt.

10 Moonhaven's Spider Matriarch Is A Jump In Difficulty

A Deadly Foe Hidden Early In The Game

While not the hardest fight in the game by any means, the conflict with the Phase Spider Matriarch is deadly because of when players will likely encounter it. The Spider and her cluster are located below the blighted village of Moonhaven, very early in act one where parties are probably just around level three. The boss is entirely optional, living in an out-of-the-way cave system, but adventurous players will try their hand at beating her at least once, often resulting in their demise.

The Phase Spider Matrirach sits atop an entrance to the Underdark, and her lair contains a gem that players can use to unlock the Necromancy of Thay, making fighting her well worth the effort.

The Matriarch has powerful attacks at close range, able to down most player characters in a single hit. Her spiderlings are no pushovers, either, able to teleport around their webby lair and shoot toxins at range. The Gossamer Tomb legendary action can also be quite the nasty surprise, taking characters out of the fight when they attack an ally of the Matriarch. Luckily, the environment can be turned to the player's advantage here, destroying the webs beneath the Matriarch to cause massive fall damage and sneaking around beforehand to place explosives next to her eggs.

9 Keep Your Cool When Fighting The Grease Elementals

Flammable Blobs Mucking Up The Lower City Sewers

Jumping forward to act three, the Lower City contains dozens of fights that are all completely avoidable if the player makes the right choices. For instance, this large collection of grease elementals is led by a sorcerer named Aelis Siryasius, who can be talked down from combat or even just avoided altogether by taking another route through the sewers. But for players who do engage with the caster, they are in for a nasty explosive surprise.

Aelis's elementals are mainly used to spread grease around the environment and keep players from getting too close to the sorcerer, all while he uses fire magic to cause massive explosions around the map. Fire resistance goes a long way in this fight, as well as having flight speeds to navigate the map carefully. Even still, Aelis will summon additional lava elementals to make the fight even harder. If beaten, Aelis drops a fairly nice cape, and the player can access the grave of his friend, which lets them earn another magical item.

8 Houndmaster Pol Is Good At Offense And Defense

An Unexpected Skirmish With A Specter

Of all the fights on this list, Houndmaster Pol is probably the rarest for anyone to encounter. That's because of how far out of the way he is, and the fact that he won't even spawn unless players try to rob a dog's grave. But when he does appear, he puts up much more of a fight than players might expect. Pol trained hounds for the Durinbold family before his death, and he summons three spectral dogs to aid him in the fight. Pol is fast, has a decent amount of health and high resistances, and can deal a whopping amount of necrotic damage at range.

His dogs are even more dreadful, being very hard to hit and inflicting the frightened condition on nearby enemies. They have an ability called predator essence, which allows them to heal Pol after he damages an enemy. Luckily, there's an easy trick to defeating this miniboss: target all fire on Pol himself. The spectral hounds are effectively summons, and will vanish if Pol's spirit is defeated. There's not a lot of loot to be found in the Durinbold mausoleum, and little reason to disturb these ghosts unless the player is looking for a fight.

7 A Tough Fight With The Arcane Tower's Guardians

Bernard's Electrifying Final Performance

Any player who has thoroughly explored the Underdark's Arcane Tower and discovered its secrets is likely familiar with Bernard, the automaton waiting atop the Tower's peak. He was a construct built to assist and accompany the cleric Lenore as she studied the surrounding Sussur blooms, and she made the fun decision to program Bernard to speak and understand only lines from Lenore's favorite book. As such, players can find some of these lines by exploring the Tower, and try them out on Bernard to see how he reacts.

Some cause the automaton to gift the player with magic items, or even offer them a hug. But one in particular starts a surprising combat, in which Bernard and the animated armors around him try to kill the player's party. They are each rather damage-resistant, and Bernard is particularly devastating with his lightning aura and powerful attacks. There isn't much reward to speak of for killing this robot, so the fight is best avoided; though if pressed, players can take advantage of the tower's height and try to use spells like Thunderwave to knock Bernard away from his allies.

6 The Thorm Siblings Each Provide An Ample Challenge

Powerful Undead Many Players Never Fight

The Thorm siblings are minibosses located all around the cursed town of Reithwin, and calling them "optional" is a bit misleading. Technically, players could forego exploring the town and walk right past them to proceed towards Moonrise Towers. Still, most players will probably give their surroundings a once-over and meet at least one of these undead abominations. Gerringothe Thorm haunts the tollhouse in her golden armor, Thisobald still works the bar while getting eternally drunk, and Malus teaches his zombified pupils the ways of Sharran torture.

The reason these enemies are considered optional here is that each of them can be easily defeated without a single turn of combat, just by talking to them. It's satisfying to defeat each of these deadly foes as a charisma-focused character using nothing but your words, convincing them to end their own lives in different ways. But failing those checks or immediately resorting to violence will result in some of the deadliest fights in act two, as each of these minibosses possess tons of hit points and lethal allies to decimate your party.

5 Being Hunted By The Orthon In The Gauntlet Of Shar

Precarious Positioning Makes This Fight Perilous

Yurgir is an orthon located deep within the Gauntlet of Shar, the very devil responsible for wiping the Dark Justiciars out over a century ago. He and his troupe of Merregons still lurk within Shar's halls, cursed to remain until they fully wipe out all the Justiciars present. Unfortunately, Yurgir possesses an Umbral Gem that the party needs to proceed further in the game, meaning he will need to be dealt with in some way, and Raphael may even promise a reward for smiting the devil.

Astarion will also be interested in killing Yurgir, since Raphael promises to help him decipher the meaning of the scars on his back if he does. As such, Astarion won't approve of trying to talk to Yurgir.

There are a number of ways to avoid combat with Yurgir, either by sneaking past him to grab the Gem, convincing him to destroy himself, or helping him root out the last Dark Justiciar, which sets him free. But he is initially hostile, and many players will likely find themselves facing off against his horde. The Merregons are vicious at close range, and Yurgir's ranged attacks and invisibility make him a tough foe. But throwing Yurgir's bombs back at him is a good way to root him out, and his pet Displacer Beast can even be convinced to side with you against its former master.

4 Githyanki Inquisitor W'wargaz Has A Legendary Action

Don't Let This Fight Get Out Of Hand

Ch'r'ai W'wargaz is difficult on lower difficulties, but manageable. He and his githyanki cronies will turn hostile if players refuse to hand over the Astral Prism, or after they leave the Prism and are betrayed by Vlaakith. They deal tons of damage and outnumber you, but stunning or knocking them prone can work well to gain the upper hand. But on Honour Mode, it's another stroy, as W'wargaz gains a truly monstrous legendary ability.

The Mind-Claw of Tu'narath is just as powerful as it sounds, a psychic spiritual weapon with opportunity attacks that W'wargaz can spawn two of each turn when he or an ally takes damage. These things deal moderate damage and have high hit points, making them a pain once they start stacking up. If the fight lasts too long, players may end up fighting half a dozen of these floating weapons in addition to other foes. The trick here is to incapacitate W'wargaz often to keep him from creating more, then focus fire on his mages to even the playing field.

3 The Dragon Ansur Is As Dangerous As You'd Expect

Facing This Long-Dead Monster Of Legend

Ansur is one of only three dragon enemies players can encounter in Baldur's Gate 3, and he is among the most fearsome creatures in Faerun. Even after being dead for quite some time, Ansur still possesses enough ion and rage for his bones to get back up and try to slaughter your party because of your connection to the Emperor, Ansur's old friend -- and killer. Fighting Ansur is not required, unless players are trying to complete Wyll's personal quest, in which case they must first a series of tests to even gain entry to his sanctum.

Then, the real challenge begins, as Ansur starts breathing lightning and flying all over the battlefield. Ansur's sheer size is intimidating enough; coupling with his reaction attacks, his mobility, and his horrifying legendary attack "Stormheart Nova," he is easily one of the scariest foes to encounter in the game. The only real trick is to use the crystals around the map as cover, since they can provide immunity to lightning damage for a short time. But beyond that, you'd better hope your damage output is high enough to take his monster down if you decide to seek him out.

2 The Shambling Mound Deserves Its Status As A Boss

The Ambush That Ended A Thousand Runs

It might seem weird to place the Shambling Mound, an optional miniboss in Act Two without even a cutscene to introduce itself, above a literal dragon. But the Shambling Mound is far deadlier than even the developers initially gave it credit for. This enormous undead plant will surprise attack players in the middle of the Shadow-Cursed Lands if they get too close, bringing with it a veritable army of needle-blights. The many ambushes across act two are known for their deadliness, ending Honour Mode campaigns very frequently if players don't know what to expect.

Surprise rounds in general can be devastating for whichever side is on the receiving end, and any enemy that gets one automatically is already pretty dangerous.

But even preparing for this boss doesn't guarantee victory. The Mound has a staggering amount of health, resistance to the damage types one would think would be most effective, and an aura that harms and debuffs anyone close to it. It can grapple far-away enemies, cover them in digestive sap to lower their AC, and even instakill retrained foes. There isn't even a good trick for killing it quickly, aside from just continuously retreating and slowing it down with magic. It's no wonder Larian made it an official boss monster, rather than just an enemy, in one of the previous patches.

1 Raphael Takes The Cake As BG3's Most Dangerous Enemy

A Hellish Challenge In The House Of Hope

But of course, nobody in Baldur's Gate 3 is more deadly and dangerous than Raphael, the cambion who rules the House of Hope. This devil tries to make deals with the player's party throughout every act of the game, and is in possession of the Orphic Hammer, the tool needed to set the Githyanki Prince free from enslavement. Players can choose to make a deal with Raphael for the hammer, ignore him entirely, or stage an incredibly dangerous heist and break into the Hells themselves to steal it.

Doing so will incur Raphael's wrath, and he will attack alongside an army of camouflaged creatures as the player tries to leave. He may even have Yurgir, the Orthon from before, on his side in this fight, depending on how things go. Raphael has 666 hit points, more than anything else in the game, and can deal insane amounts of fire damage. Everything about this fight is designed to be comically lethal, and it will require every tool in the player's belt to get out alive. It is, without a doubt, the most deadly fight in Baldur's Gate 3.