Once you’ve explored a large chunk of the Shadowlands, you’ll reach an area named the Gauntlet of Shar. Here you’ll encounter Balthazar and you’ll be presented the choice of killing him or working alongside him. This page will detail the outcomes of both choices, so you know how to handle Balthazar in BG3 for your save.
You can convince Balthazar to give you a bell that’ll allow you to summon flesh.
Where to Find Balthazar in BG3¶
To find Balthazar in BG3, you’ll want to enter the 
Gauntlet of Shar and then follow the path around until you reach a room that has multiple Dark Justiciars. You’ll find this towards to the top left side of the map on one of the floors below. But not too far below where you can see the distant statues or that require the elevator left, or towards the Shar trials. Simply follow the stairs down and you’ll get to the floor you need to be on.
Regardless of your dialogue choice, you’ll have to fight these enemies, so you’ll want to make sure you’re around level 5-6 to make this battle as easy as possible. Throughout the battle, you’ll notice that there are Umbral Tremors that are scattered around the room and these will produce more enemies to deal with each round, so you’ll want to focus on destroying these as quickly as possible. Otherwise you’ll find yourself getting overwhelmed by the enemies. If you need more tips on how to tackle this encounter, then check out our Umbral Tremor Fight: How to Defeat the Dark Justiciar Enemies page.
Once you’ve successfully defeated all the enemies, a door will open and Balthazar will appear. Speak with him and you’ll learn that he wants you looking for a certain relic, but here you’ll have the option to attack him or assist him on his quest, so you may be wondering what option presents you with the most useful rewards.
Helping Balthazar in BG3: Choice & Consequences¶
If you agree to help Balthazar in BG3, then you’ll have the option to persuade him to give you a bell which you can use to summon Flesh which is the angry thing standing behind him and you can use this to make your battles in the Gauntlet of Shar easier. You’ll also be able to bring him to Nightsong, but doing so will cause 
Shadowheart to become hostile towards you and succumb to the shadow curse. This will result in her turning against you, so naturally if you want to progress her questline, then you’ll want to avoid this.
(1 of 2) If you obtain the bell, then you can summon flesh to help you in the battles to come.
If you obtain the bell, then you can summon flesh to help you in the battles to come. (left), If you choose to defeat Balthazar, then you can obtain useful equipment. (right)
Should I Kill Balthazar in BG3?: Choice & Consequences¶
Additionally, you can get a 
Moonlantern from him if you haven’t already got one from the Kar’niss. This allows you to roam around the Shadowlands without getting damaged by the curse. You could still help Balthazar until you claim all the rewards, then take him down afterwards, but beware this encounter is pretty difficult, so you’ll definitely want Shadowheart in your party. We reocmmend having spells on you like 
Turn Undead, as that will help you CC quite a few of his undead guards, and potentially CC Balthazar too. Regardless, if you choose to help Balthazar he’ll still turn on you once you give him Nightsong. However, you’ll be able to pick up a useful accessory upon defeating him.
You’ll find he possess Necromancy items, one of which is the 
Circle of Bones, handy for players using a undead minion build. You can see an example of that in our BG3 Necromancer Build page.
All in all, You should probably kill Balthazar in BG3. The XP is nice, the Nightsong is a big part of the storyline, regardless if you personally free her, or let Shadowheart kill her for her Shar storyline. Leaving Nightsong to Balthazar only weakens the storyline, and leads to the same conclusion to Chapter 2 anyway.
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