The Investigate the Murders quest culminates in reaching the Murder Tribunal, where you’ll face Sarevok Anchev and his assassins if you reject Bhaal’s trial. He can be a tricky boss to defeat without a few tips in mind. Here’s how to beat Sarevok in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to Defeat Sarevok in Baldur’s Gate 3
Sarevok can be a difficult boss fight if you’re going in blind, but I have a few pro tips that will make the encounter much easier. Essentially, even though he can hit hard, he isn’t that powerful by himself.
The difficulty of this fight lies in his allies, like the three Echo mages that buff him and debuff your party and the three knights that come charging in. Your first instinct might be to focus on the mages first, but I don’t recommend this, as all three of them, upon death, provide Sarevok with buffs that make killing him much harder. These are:
- Illasera: Killing her permanently allows Sarevok to take two actions instead of one, boosts his movement, and he can’t be Paralysed, Restrained, or have his movement speed reduced.
- Amelyssan: Killing her makes it so that Sarevok heals on each attack for 2d12 HP.
- Sendai: Killing her increases Sarevok’s AC by 6.
This is why I would highly recommend focus-firing Sarevok first and killing him as fast as possible while Counterspelling the three mages with your Wizard, Bard, or Warlock. More on that later. As for the Knights that come charging in, there are two things that you can do. The first one is that if they’re in the fight, I would still focus on Sarevok, as killing him instantly defeats the three knights as well. Secondly, I defeated the knights in a standalone fight before entering the Murder Tribunal sanctum, making Sarevok’s boss fight drastically easier.
Battle with Sarevok is a fight that gets progressively more difficult since after every four Attack actions, Sarevok will perform a five-attack Deathbringer Assault combo that can deal a lot of damage. Prepare for this with the Sanctuary spell that negates attacks, the Blade Ward cantrip, or any source of damage resistance, and healing your low HP party members.
Deathbringer Assault and the Echo/Knight mechanics we talked about earlier all show us that we should focus fire on Sarevok and defeat him as fast as possible. Let’s move on to some useful tips and tricks.
Sarevok Boss Guide in Baldur’s Gate 3
Here are some strategic notes to beat Sarevok easily:
- Defeat Knights First: You can beat the three knights guarding Sarevok’s chamber before entering it, thus stopping them from joining the fight. They’re quite tanky but don’t possess any especially lethal abilities.
- Silence and Counterspell Echoes: Use the Silence spell on the three mages, a Sussur weapon, or Arrows of Arcane Interference to disable their spellcasting, which can buff Sarevok and debuff you. Spells like Slow can be quite debilitating, so if you end up affected, focus fire on the one concentrating on Slow to break her concentration. Additionally, Counterspell is a great spell to bring here on your Bard, Wizard, or Warlock.
- Sanctuary Tip: While one of the casters does put Sanctuary on Sarevok, don’t Counterspell it, as he’ll turn it off on his turn, or you can just hit him with AOE attacks.
- CC Sarevok: Bring Haste and Potions of Speed to hit Sarevok with CC spells and burn his Legendary Resistances fast. His Wisdom and Charisma saving throws aren’t the best, so Hold Person and Polymorph work great. Otto’s Irresistible Dance is also a top-tier spell in this fight to rob Sarevok of his Actions.
- Focus on the Haste Caster: One of the Echoes will eventually cast Haste on Sarevok. Focus fire her to break her concentration, which will stun Sarevok.
- Wall of Stone: If you didn’t kill the Knights before the boss fight, you could block off their entry with the Wall of Stone spell by placing it parallel to the gate.
- Dialogue Strats: You can start a dialogue with Sarevok with one character and then position other characters around before the fight. I would recommend placing your ranged characters on one of the upper walkways on the side of the arena. Additionally, I would put Karlach or Lae’Zel, as well as other melee characters you may have, right in Sarevok’s melee range.
- Arrows of Humanoid Slaying: Sarevok counts as a Humanoid, so these arrows will do incredible damage to him. He can also be affected by the Level 2 Hold Person spell.
That concludes my guide on how to beat Sarevok in Baldur’s Gate 3. For more BG3 guides check out how to defeat Orin and should you kill Valeria during the Murder Tribunal trial.
