How to take out Dror Ragzlin
The three goblin leaders in Baldur’s Gate 3 are tough to handle, especially Dror Ragzlin. He deals a ton of damage to anyone he hits. However, with the right preparations, you can make it through. Here’s how to take out Dror Ragzlin in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Whether or not you fight Dror Ragzlin depends on whether you side with him and Minthara or the Tieflings in the Emerald Grove. You can avoid this fight entirely if you ally with him and his army during this section of Act One’s story.
How to defeat Dror Ragzlin in BG3
The easiest way to defeat Dror Ragzlin in BG3 is to push all his goblin soldiers down the pit while your tankiest characters deal with him. Make sure you always have someone ready to heal whoever is taking blows from his Faithbreaker Warhammer. Keep his goblin allies away from him to prevent his Aura of Leadership from boosting their damage.
However, you must not push him down the pit if you want Dror Ragzlin’s magic Warhammer, the Faithbreaker, or his Mind Flayer Parasite. Doing this makes him disappear from the fight completely, preventing you from looting him for his weapons and other miscellaneous trinkets. Only do this if you don’t care about the drops and just want a quick win.
How you navigate this fight – or whether you engage in the fight at all – depends on whether you decide to side with Minthara or the Emerald Grove Tieflings. You can also go full stealth routes, tackle other goblin leaders first, or go all-in as loud as possible and take everyone on at once.
If you’ve already fought another one of the goblin leaders in Baldur’s Gate 3, make sure to rest up before the Dror Ragzlin fight begins. Either a Short or a Long Rest at the camp will do. Taking the latter, however, will let you recover your more powerful spells and abilities. This red-skinned hobgoblin, Dror Ragzlin, is much more powerful than the other two goblin bosses. He has a hefty 75 HP and is Level 5. He can dish out upwards of 21 damage in one strike, as well, so be careful.
Before taking on the Dror Ragzlin fight in BG3, find the war drum on the right-hand side. It’s next to the stairway in the boss’ combat area. If you fail to destroy it straight away with an arrow or a spell, you’ll face nine enemies in total after taking out Dror Ragzlin. While this could be a fun challenge for some, it can be overwhelming for others, especially if you recently fought another boss. Have someone like Astarion nearby to eliminate the drum ASAP.
Try to take out Dror Ragzlin as quickly as possible during the fight. To do this, try to use a spell that stuns him for a move or two. I used Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on him. It’s not a guaranteed move, but it will leave Dror Ragzlin prone with crazed laughter if it lands. It’ll phase him, leaving you a chance to get a lot of damage in before he can even say hello.
You can also get in an extra attack with Lae’zel’s Action Surge before attempting to take his hammer off his hands with a powerful Disarming Strike. Using several strikes in a row can really rack up the damage on him. Shadowheart‘s Inflict Wounds can also effectively lower a foe’s health. His 75 HP will dwindle down to zero in no time.
Dror Ragzlin may also take a lot of health from your party, so try to get a healer into the squad to remedy a potentially bad situation. Just be careful while doing this during Dror Ragzlin’s Honour Mode fight, as buffing your allies can make things complicated with his passive. Outside of that, you’ll want to remove his minions from the picture. They’ll be fairly easy to dispatch, but just in case, you can quicksave after eliminating Ragzlin if you’re in one of the regular difficulty modes.
On the left-hand side, near the stairway, there’s a ladder that can help archers get a better aim at their victims down below. While using these yourself is a viable strategy for defeating Dror Ragzlin and his minions, you also have to be careful of them climbing up and attacking you. One push is all it takes to send your character to their death instantly.
It also helps if you can make it past the guards to avoid spending resources before fighting Dror Ragzlin. Every advantage counts, even if it means sacrificing some initial EXP. You can always come back later and clean up any goblins you missed.
How to make it past the guards
Once you enter the goblin’s prison, you’re stopped at the front gate by security. Warrior Trinzas asks what your intentions are. There are multiple ways to go about this. As a magical class, I was able to peer through her mind. There’s an Intelligence check, but it’s fairly easy to beat, especially if you manually save just before the encounter. If you lose the roll, they will all attack you. When you succeed, she’ll tell you about the True Souls that have gathered in their base.
Tell Trinzas that you’re here for the True Souls, and they’ll let you through. You can also use some Deception to pass through the guards. This is difficult, however, as you’ll need to roll over 15 on your D20 dice. The first option is likely better if you’re not specialized in Deception.
How to beat Dror Ragzlin without alerting the camp
When you first encounter Dror Ragzlin, you’ll be locked into dialogue that can cause him and the rest of the Goblin Camp to fight you instantly. Even if you avoid this conversation and either run in to attack or stealthily kill him, the entire goblin camp will automatically become hostile to you, with very few ways to avoid it. Fortunately, there are a few ways you can work around this.
If you don’t mind having the goblins aggro you later and just want to delay it, you can sneak up into the rafter above Dror Ragzlin’s throne room and take him out without alerting anyone initially. Although they’ll become aggressive later, you’ll have some breathing room to set up camp, chug a few potions, or chitchat with your other party members first.
Another option is to sneak up beside him and push him into the void with knockback abilities. Next to his throne, you’ll spot a nearby pit that will kill him instantly if you land the shot successfully. You can do this by using Void Bulbs, Thunderwave, or even shoving him with a high-strength character.
To increase your odds of success, you can use spells like invisibility or scrolls of darkness to veil your character, making it much easier to escape after. The only two downsides are you’ll aggro the camp once a goblin finds you, and you’ll miss out on Dror Ragzlin’s loot.
No matter how you kill Dror Ragzlin, you will always aggro the Goblin Camp at some point, even if it’s delayed by you returning to camp or hiding in the shadows. Fortunately, you can use items like Lump’s War Horn to call in some reinforcements or sneak into the caves below Dror’s throne room and use Speak With Animals to convince the spiders to attack the goblins. Your best bet for avoiding this is killing the rest of the Goblin Camp first before taking on Dror Ragzlin and the other goblin leaders.
Dror Ragzlin Stats in BG3
Here’s everything you need to know about Dror Ragzlin’s combat abilities, from his Armor Class to special attacks.
Abilities
Ability | Score |
---|---|
Strength | 18 (+4) |
Dexterity | 12 (+1) |
Constitution | 16 (+3) |
Intelligence | 12 (+1) |
Wisdom | 10 (+0) |
Charisma | 15 (+2) |
Secondary stats
Attribute | Details |
---|---|
Race | Hobgoblin (Humanoid) |
Health | 75 HP |
Armor Class | 14 AC |
Speed | 9 Meters |
Proficiency Bonus | +3 |
Initiative | +1 |
Size | Medium (75kg) |
Skills
Feature | Description |
---|---|
Aura of Leadership | Allies of Dor Razglin who are near him deal additional 1d4 Force. This effect doesn’t work if Dror is incapacitated. |
Martial Advantage | Dror can deal an extra 2d6 damage to a creature he hits with the Faithbreaker warhammer as long as he has an ally adjacent to the target who isn’t Incapacitated. He can use this ability once per turn. |
Danger Sense | Dror senses when things aren’t as they should be. He has Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws against traps, spells, and surfaces. To gain this benefit, he can’t be Blinded or Incapacitated. |
Darkvision | Dror Ragzlin can see in the dark up to 12m. |
Extra Attack | Can make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack. If you gain the Extra Attack feature from more than one class, they don’t add together. |
Fast Movement | Movement speed increased by 3m while not wearing Heavy Armour. |
Opportunity Attack | Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach. |
Unarmored Defence | Dror Ragzlin’s body is as resilient as any armour. While not wearing armour, he adds his Constitution Modifier to his Armour Class. Wearing Heavy Armour impedes all positive effects of his Rage. |
The Faithbreaker warhammer
Name | Faithbreaker |
Rarity | Uncommon |
Damage | One-handed: 2~9 (1d8+1) Two-handed: 2~11 (1d10+1) |
Weapon Actions | Backbreaker, Concussive Smash, Weakening Strike |
Special Weapon Action | Absolute Power: Deal additional 1d6 force damage. Additionally, you might push the target 17ft (5m) |
Type | Magic Warhammer (versatile) +1 |
Weight | 5.95 lbs (2.7 Kg) |
Value | 300 Gold |