Highlights
- Finding the Grymforge in the Underdark region in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3 is optional but highly recommended for the potential rewards and thrilling experience it offers.
- The boss fight against Grym in Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the most memorable due to its difficulty and unique mechanics. Surviving the fight rewards players with the Grymskull Helm and other valuable items.
- The Grymskull Helm provides resistance to fire damage, immunity to critical hits, and the ability to cast the Hunter's Mark spell once per long rest. It is particularly useful for players proficient with heavy armor.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Baldur's Gate 3 Act OnePlayers can find the Grymforge hidden in the Underdark region in Act One of Baldur’s Gate 3. Although the quest and related boss fight in this area of Baldur’s Gate 3 is entirely optional, players should strongly consider completing them for both the potential rewards and the thrilling experience they offer.
Due to the difficulty and unique mechanics involved, this is arguably one of the most memorable boss fights in Baldur’s Gate 3. Not to mention, players who survive the fight will get the Grymskull Helm among other rewards, making it a worthwhile experience.
What the Grymskull Helm Does, and How to Get It in Baldur’s Gate 3
The Grymskull Helm is a very rare-quality heavy helmet. Players can obtain this helmet by slaying Grym, the boss that appears when players attempt to use the Grymforge in Baldur’s Gate 3. This helmet provides:
- Resistance to Fire damage
- Immunity to incoming Critical Hits
- Hunter’s Mark, a level one spell, available once per long rest
For players who are proficient with heavy armor in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Grymskull Helm can be extremely useful. While the immunity to incoming Critical Hits alone makes this helmet valuable, the Hunter’s Mark spell that other party members can benefit from is also a praiseworthy trait. Hunter’s Mark is a Concentration Spell from the Divination school that makes marked targets take 1–6 additional damage from weapon attacks, and when a marked target is defeated, players can re-cast the spell without consuming additional Spell Slots.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Grymforge Boss Fight is One to Remember
The Grym boss fight in Baldur’s Gate 3 presents a unique challenge with its hardened body that players need to perform specific actions in order to make the boss vulnerable to damage. Players will have no choice but to fight this enemy when attempting to use the Grymforge, but how players choose to fight can still present many opportunities. Although the boss has a surprisingly large amount of health, there are plenty of ways that players can prepare for this fight before reaching Act Two in Baldur’s Gate 3.
In order to make Grym vulnerable to damage, players will need to repeatedly flood the Grymforge with lava after every few turns throughout the boss fight, or Grym’s body will harden and become practically immune to all damage types. However, the level two Heat Metal Spell can activate Grym’s vulnerable state as well. What also makes Grym a unique enemy is that it will only target the character who most recently landed a successful attack on it, regardless of whether the attack does damage or not. With both of these mechanics combined, the boss fight generally results in a cat-and-mouse chase mixed with a good old-fashioned game of “the floor is lava”.
What further makes this boss fight so memorable is that players can use a special environmental attack on the boss. Specifically, players who manage to lure Grym onto the anvil in the center of the Grymforge can activate the forge-hammer to strike down on the boss, dealing massive damage and momentarily flattening the boss like a pancake. Successfully pulling this off multiple times can make easy work of this otherwise brutal fight, although successfully slaying Grym without using the forge hammer attack will net players an achievement.
A popular method that the community has discovered for dealing with Grym is to use the infamous Owlbear attack in Baldur’s Gate 3. Otherwise, maintaining Grym’s weakened status to exploit its vulnerability to Bludgeoning damage is a sound strategy, so weapons like the Blood of Lathander legendary mace are extremely effective here.
To sweeten the deal even further, after slaying Grym, players are free to use the Grymforge to craft a few pieces of Adamantine gear. From this boss fight and related quest, players can earn a very rare helmet, a selection of Adamantine armor and weapons, bragging rights, and around 500 XP for having survived the epic fight against Grym.
Baldur's Gate 3 is out now for PC and PS5 with an Xbox Series X/S version in development.
