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Ketheric Thorm/Combat
| Overview | Combat |
This page focuses on Ketheric Thorm's behavior during turn-based combat gameplay.
Attacks and abilities
Range: Normal weapon range 
Recharge: Per turn 
Honour Mode
Allies
Ketheric will be accompanied by the following allies. Detailed information can be found on their respective pages.
Moonrise Towers Rooftop (Stage 1)
- Susdera (If still alive)
- Squire (If still alive)
- Kar'niss (If still alive)
- 8x Necromite (If still alive)
Mind Flayer Colony (Stage 2)
- Mind Flayer
- Isobel (if kidnapped during Resolve the Abduction)
- 4x Intellect Devourer
- 4x Necromite
Encounter details
Ketheric Thorm's actual battle has two individual stages, some of which may be affected by the choices of the party.
Stage 1 (Moonrise Towers Rooftop)
The first part of the encounter with Ketheric takes place atop Moonrise Towers. Ketheric will be joined by Susdera, his loyal dog Squire, as well as eight necromites. Susdera will stand immediately before the party, while Ketheric will stand on the small balcony behind her, with necromites flanking the stairs to him on both sides.
Ketheric boasts an impressive 22 AC and thus may be very difficult for the party to hit. Additionally, though his Dexterity skill is relatively low, he has advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws via 
Ketheric's Shield. Spells with a Dexterity saving throw can still be used should Ketheric activate Reaper's Embrace, which negates the advantage he has. He is also immune to 
or 
due to his Fey Ancestry. As an undead he is also immune to many crowd control spells such as 
and 
.
Ketheric's main source of damage will be through a combination of his melee attacks and 
s. As a Paladin enemy, his attacks can very quickly burst down party members if his hits all connect. At the end of his turn, Ketheric will also order his necromites to focus their attacks on a single party member using Deadly Orders and cap his turn by casting Incubate Death. The skeletal involucre it summons will detonate at the end of the round.
Should the player have spared Aylin, she will join the fight on the party's side and assist. She cannot be controlled by the player but her AI will often attempt to focus on killing Susdera or Ketheric.
Once Ketheric's health drops to around 25%, he will interrupt the fight by summoning a gargantuan tentacle, kidnapping Aylin should she be present, and fleeing down the destroyed tower to the Mind Flayer Colony. If all of his allies are dead, combat ends immediately, otherwise they must be dispatched first. The party is then free to explore the surroundings and follow Ketheric when ready.
Stage 2 (Mind Flayer Colony)
Phase 1
The next stage of the fight begins shortly after catching up to Ketheric in the Mind Flayer Colony. A Restoration Pod that grants the benefits of a Long Rest can be found to the right of the elevator that brings you to him. This pod is present even on Tactician and Honour difficulty. The 
condition in the area also allows the party to cast 
without consuming any corpses.
After the cutscene regarding Ketheric and his allies, players will enter a short conversation with Ketheric. During this dialogue, he can be talked down from fighting with a 
DC 18 Persuasion check, which will only be available if party members laid the conversational groundwork during the prior conversation on top of Moonrise Towers. On a success, Ketheric will kill himself and the battle will skip directly to phase two. Otherwise, a fight will ensue.
Ketheric will stand on a raised circular platform before the party. To the far right, a Mindflayer can be found overlooking the battlefield, and four Intellect Devourers will quickly approach the party from below it. On the other side of the room, to the left, four necromites will sling spells down at the party from another raised platform.
Should she be alive, Aylin will be found trapped by spectral hands, granting Ketheric invulnerability once more. Aylin can be freed from her prison via the 
action. Once free, she will assist the party in the fight, usually by charging directly at Ketheric.
Dealing with Ketheric himself should be relatively similar to his first encounter. Like in the previous fight, Ketheric can order his party to focus a single party member using 
and raise new necromites using 
. If the party 
him of 
Ketheric's Warhammer during the previous fight, then he will have a regular replacement warhammer.
If Isobel was kidnapped during Resolve the Abduction, she will be tadpoled and brainwashed into fighting alongside her father. She will use 
and 
on injured enemies.
As soon as Ketheric is defeated, the next and final phase of the fight begins.
Phase 2
The last phase of the fight begins as soon as Ketheric is killed, and this time the party faces the Apostle of Myrkul. Twisted by necrotic magic, the Apostle takes up the entire space in the center of the room, summoning necromites as the fight begins.
During this phase, up to four additional Skeletal Involucres will be created at random points on the edges of the battle at the end of every round. The involucres are resistant to piercing damage but vulnerable to bludgeoning and radiant damage.
The Apostle hits hard, hits often, and has a large health pool. The main gimmick of the fight is that the Apostle will sacrifice a necromite in order to gain the 
spell. Should the necromites be dealt with, then this spell cannot be cast.
The Apostle's presence also applies 
to anyone near it on the platform, which prevents healing damaged party members.
Once the Apostle is defeated, Ketheric will finally die for good, allowing the party to retrieve his Netherstone, and proceed to Baldur's Gate.
Tactics
Stage 1 (Moonrise Towers Rooftop)
The best course of action is to burst Ketheric down as soon as possible through whatever means available. His high Armour Class will make it difficult to land attacks on him unless the party manages to inflict conditions that give advantage on attacks such as 
, 
, 
, or 
. He can also be made much less threatening if since he will no longer be able to use his s.
The party can also consume 
Elixir of Radiant Resistance to reduced the high damage of his s.
The necromites can be safely ignored if the party has a high AC or necrotic resistance, as they only ever cast 
, a low damage spell. However, both Ketheric and Susdera can summon more of them, so it's best to dispatch them with AoE attacks to avoid being overwhelmed.
Susdera herself may prove to be more of a direct threat at the start of combat given that she can cast 
and the party begins the fight grouped together by default. 
or 
spells can neutralize her and give the party a chance to form up as needed. She's also able to cast , preventing healing for one entire turn.
Alternatively, it is possible to kill Susdera, Squire, Kar'niss, and all 8 Necromites prior to the battle. The party can enter the rooftop early by defeating Radija and the 4 necromites guarding its entrance, allowing them to talk to Susdera and antagonize her into attacking them. This will cause her and all 8 necromites to turn hostile, while the 
Ketheric will not unless the party gets too close to him. Susdera and the necromites can be safely dispatched from a distance without approaching Ketheric. The party can also encounter and kill Squire in Ketheric's bedroom. Kar'niss is a boss in his own right who can appear in this battle if the party sides with him during the Harper ambush and follows him all the way to Moonrise. Doing so is not advised as it will make this fight far more difficult than it usually is.
Stage 2 (Mind Flayer Colony)
Phase 1
The restoration pod prior to the fight provides an excellent opportunity to prepare for the coming battle by summoning additional help. If available, 
can be particularly helpful in keeping the necromites and skeletal involucres under control. The party can also take advantage of the condition to summon multiple undead minions with .
During the battle, the party should ideally split into three groups: one to deal with the Mindflayer and help Aylin if alive, one to keep Ketheric occupied, and one to deal with the Necromites. Dispatching the Mindflayer quickly will help the party keep control of the battle as it will otherwise attempt to 
them. It will also grant the party member a high vantage point to fight against the intellect devourers and Ketheric. Dispatching the intellect devourers shouldn't be too difficult as most AoE spells can remove them all at once. They are not too troublesome either, though they could prove an annoyance should they 
a ranged unit.
The Necromites on the left platform are not too dangerous, however, they should be eliminated before the next phase, otherwise Ketheric will have a great power spike. One party member with an AoE spell should suffice, leaving them up there will also provide another vantage point for the rest of the fight.
It is recommended to clear all of Ketheric's allies before moving on to the next phase of the fight.
Phase 2
Wounded party members can use 
to leave the platform or move to a few small areas at the very edge of it outside the aura, and downed ones can be shoved off the platform by others if necessary.
Party members having trouble hitting the Apostle can turn to area-of-effect attacks, such as spells or 
Smokepowder Bombs. The Apostle's immobility allows certain spells such 
to continuously damage it each turn.
Despite the large size of the Apostle, it's still susceptible to most regular conditions, such as , and can be made 
using 
. Likewise, although it has a difficult-to-overcome saving throw versus many more severe conditions, casting or 
on it will blind the Apostle thereby helping any melee fighters prevent some of the damage and combos, in particular removing its ability to opportunity strike.
The Apostle's Reaper's Scythe does respectable damage and also knocks party members back, potentially off of the platform itself. Positioning all melee units with the spikes of the arena at their back will prevent them from being knocked off the platform this way. Alternatively, the Apostle can be of its scythe, removing the threat entirely.
Notes
- If Gale uses his Netherese Orb Blast during the second encounter with Ketheric, the game can end at this very moment, allowing the party to kill Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red and the Absolute in one fell swoop. This only works during the cutscene; using the ability outside of the cutscene will trigger a Game Over as usual.
- If you are an Oathbreaker Paladin above level 11, it is possible to use Control Undead on the Apostle of Myrkul and have him fight for you against his minions. His movement speed of 0 means he will not follow you anywhere to fight anyone out of his range. You could then attack him again and kill him while he remains friendly and won't fight back. This death however will not trigger the cut scene where he turns back to Kethric or the Dream Visitor returns. Looting the body of the Apostle will give you a supply pack, a letter from Isobel, Kethric's Warhammer, and Kethric's Shield, but not the Reaper's Scythe, Reaper's Embrace or Ketheric's Netherstone. This option thus prevents the game from progressing to Act 3.