Baldur’s Gate 3 update could make a notoriously difficult quest a lot easier

One of the most notoriously frustrating challenges in Baldur’s Gate 3 is rescuing prisoners in the Iron Throne, Gortash’s underwater “command center”, aka prison, where Omeluum, Duke Ravengard and others are being held. The meeting is limited to just a few rounds depending on the difficulty level, and prisoners are spread across the map in tricky locations. Freeing these prisoners is a difficult task in itself, but on top of that, the area has been prone to glitches and bugs, frustrating players who spend a lot of time planning or strategizing before descending into the prison.

The Iron Throne area is linked to several quests, such as Retrieve Omeluum and Avenge the Drowned, and failing to rescue any of these characters has dramatic consequences for the story as a whole and impacts that will help players in the battles to come. This makes bugs especially unfortunate considering that important story characters like Grand Duke Ravengard and Wyll’s relationship quest are at stake. Happily, Larian has released a hotfix that will hopefully resolve some of the pathfinding issues that some prisoners were having.

Why BG3’s “Iron Throne Quest” is so difficult

The Iron Throne must be completed in just a few rounds

Whether playing in Honor Mode or Explorer, opening the Iron Throne hatch triggers a countdown based on the party’s difficulty level. Players will have a limited number of turns to save everyone they can before the entire location is flooded, drowning all prisoners and failing any mission associated with them. This is one of the most challenging encounters in the game because of the turn limit, but also because it is crucial to plan the correct path for each character in the party and avoid the Sahaguin enemies.

However, the difficulty of saving everyone is compounded by the number of failures in the Iron Throne prison. Imagine finally taking all the prisoners back to the center of the map to escape, only to find out that they won’t climb the ladder to the submersible. A bug affecting pathfinding in this area causes certain prisoners to be unable to climb the stairs back into the submersible to escape. After players direct the prisoners to the submersible, instead of climbing to safety, they end up walking aimlessly around the chamber, refusing to climb.

Why saving everyone in the underwater prison is easier now

Larian has released a hotfix that could help prisoners escape

On October 1st, Larian released Hotfix #27 with a rather vague note that will hopefully make the underwater prison easier: “Characters remembered how to use stairs.” While it’s not entirely clear whether this particular note will affect the Iron Throne prisoners’ behavior when interacting with the stairs leading to the submersible, the implication is that any characters interacting with ladders will be more likely to climb them. This is great news for anyone trying to save all the prisoners in the underwater prison and advancing all the missions associated with these characters.

For most updates and hotfixes in important areas like the Iron Throne, Larian will typically specify that the update applies to that specific area. Because they didn’t designate it here means there is no guarantee that the ambiguous ladder note will resolve location errors that occur when prisoners reach the base of the submersible ladders. However, assuming this hotfix note he does applying to the Iron Throne encounter, one of the most frustrating and challenging areas of the game, has become much easier.

Sources: Baldur’s Gate 3