Karlach: Our Fiery Friend - Baldur's Gate III Guide - IGN (2024)

Karlach is a tiefling and former soldier that recently gained her freedom from a devil. This walkthrough will guide you through every step of her companion quest, allowing you to see her tale through to the end.

Karlach

Karlach is a Tiefling Barbarian, and she’s trying to kill a group of demons masquerading as paladins. As a barbarian, she’s capable of flying into a rage and channeling that into ferocious attacks, while surviving vicious attacks.

Recruiting Karlach

While it isn’t necessary, recruiting Wyll will put Karlach on your radar, almost literally. His initial quest is to hunt down Karlach, so if you want to know where to look for her you should add him to your party. Otherwise, she can be found north of the Blighted Village. When you reach the river, jump north across it, then head east and head back to the river, you’ll find Karlach and you can recruit her after a brief conversation.

Our Fiery Friend

As soon as Karlach joins the group, she’ll mention she needs help dealing with some demons. They claim to be paladins, but Karlach says that they’re devils in disguise. If you explored the area previously, you may have come across them in a battle-torn building. They may even have asked you to hunt down ‘the devil’ you now know is Karlach. If you’ve spoken to and allied with Karlach, the group will already know what you’ve done, and will try to convince you that Karlach lied about them. Whatever you choose, they’ll let the façade slip and a fight will ensue.

There are only three of them but they possess a handful of abilities that can disrupt your team, like Hold Person and Hunter’s Mark. If you keep your team positioned beneath the second floor walkway, the ranged combatant may be unable to shoot you from afar, allowing you to deal with Anders before moving on to the other two. If you have a full party you’ll outnumber them, but an opponent on death’s door can be just as dangerous as a healthy one, so have your party focus each target until they’re dead, making this fight much easier.

After the fight, Karlach will be unable to cool off and she’ll fly into a rage, destroying things in her vicinity. It’s best to just regroup with your other party members and wait outside for the effect to wear off. She’ll explain after that she has an infernal engine for a heart, and it hasn’t been working quite right since she arrived in Faerun, but she heard tell of a tiefling mechanic that may be able to help. Naturally, you should head to the druid's grove to look for this mechanic.

The Hellion's Heart

Return to the druid's grove and head to the tiefling section of the camp. Stationed between Zevlor's chamber and the makeshift jail is a blacksmith named Dammon. He'll check on Karlach's heart and offer to help, but first he needs Infernal Iron, a rare metal that can be found throughout Faerun. Dammon can mark a nearby piece, but our handy guide can tell you How to Find Infernal Iron. Once you've acquired a piece, head back to Dammon and speak with him. It's a solid step toward helping Karlach, but it's all he can do for now; he asks you to find him when you've both reached Baldur's Gate, hopefully with more pieces of Infernal Iron.

If the tieflings have already moved on from the druid's grove, Dammon will no longer be available to help until you reach the Shadow-cursed Lands. He can be found at the Last Light Inn, in the building on the north side of the settlement. Give him a piece of Infernal Iron here and he'll request that you speak to him again in the morning. Return to him after resting to continue.

Speak to Dammon at the Last Light Inn in the Shadow-cursed Lands to progress Karlach's quest. You'll need another piece of Infernal Iron. Be sure not to ask Dammon to make armor for you until you've finished this step of Karlach's quest, because he creates them from Infernal Iron.

Once you've given Dammon the second piece of Infernal Iron, The Hellion's Heart is complete. Karlach is able to touch others without burning them, and she is immune to being charmed. Unfortunately, Dammon says Karlach's heart cannot survive outside of Avernus for long, ending the quest on a solemn note.

The Shadow-cursed Lands

After defeating the demon paladins and fixing Karlach's infernal engine, things are relatively quiet for her until you reach the end of the Shadow-cursed Lands and Moonrise Towers. After being introduced to Lord Gortash in the mindflayer colony, you can speak with Karlach about him. She's furious that she trusted him and she vows to have her revenge, since he's the one that traded her into servitude under Zariel. Her new goal is to find him and make him pay. She doesn't need to be present when meeting Gortash to receive this quest update.

Wyrm's Crossing

Gortash is located in Wyrm's Rock Fortress, on the north side of Wyrm's Crossing. A large part of the main quest in the region is gaining entrance to Wyrm's Rock so that you can attend Gortash's coronation.

Archduke Gortash

When you enter Wyrm’s Rock for Gortash’s coronation, you can confront Gortash. He proposes an alliance to deal with Orin, otherwise you’ll have to battle a room full of Steel Watchers in addition to Gortash and any Flaming Fists in the room. Karlach’s vengeance will have to wait until a more opportune moment.

Preparing for Gortash

The primary obstacle stopping you from charging into battle with Gortash is the Steel Watchers. These massive automatons can crush you with ease, but you can even the odds by Destroying the Steel Watch. Additionally, you should try to hit level 12 by completing side quests all over the Lower City. When you feel ready, head back to Wyrm’s Rock fortress. If you destroyed the Steel Watch, you’ll need to infiltrate the fortress, since the drawbridges will be raised. An easy way to enter is to teleport to the South Span Checkpoint, then head north toward the fortress. Apply feather fall to your team, then jump down to the cliffs along the south face of the fortress. Once you land safely, you can enter the prison from a crack on the fortress’ east face.

Taking on Gortash

We’ve got a handy guide for Taking Down Gortash, but once he’s been defeated, you’ll need to inform Karlach if she wasn’t present for the fight. She’ll want to see Karlach’s body. When Karlach arrives and sees Gortash dead, she’s overcome with emotion. Despite her revenge being fulfilled, Karlach mourns her life as it could have been, and is distraught that his death does nothing to change the worsening condition of her engine heart. After some time alone, you can speak to her at camp to decompress and bring her quest to its end.

For help with your other companions, use the links below:

• Lae'zel: The Githyanki Warrior
• Jaheira: The High Harper
• Astarion: The Pale Elf