How To Save The Iron Throne Prisoners In Baldur's Gate 3

Saving the Iron Throne prisoners from their underwater grave is an optional, but incredibly difficult challenge to plan for in Baldur's Gate 3.

One of the most challenging optional goals in Baldur's Gate 3 is to save the prisoners of the Iron Throne who are trapped in an underwater jail beneath the Lower City. This quest seen in Act 3 will test your skills to the limit, and may cause your party to make a few sacrifices along the way. There are complicated steps you need to be aware of if you want to have a chance at success.

The Iron Throne Prison is located underwater, and acts like a smaller dungeon in Baldur's Gate 3 that you and your party have to explore quickly. You only have a limited number of turns to save every prisoner before the place collapses. The number of rounds is determined by your game's difficulty, but it will be hard to rescue everyone in any mode due to this restriction.

You want to save every person you can in the Iron Throne Prison for extra help in disabling the Steel Watch guards that are protecting Gortash, one of the main bosses in Act 3 that possess a Netherstone.

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Things To Know Before Reaching The Prison

The Explorer difficulty provides your party with 8 turns to save prisoners, while Balanced mode permits 6 rounds, but Tactician and Honor only give you 5 turns total. Feel free to lower your difficulty for this challenge alone if you aren't confident in your team's ability to save everyone in time. No other side quests or events found in Act 3 will impact this event, or increase the number of rounds you'll work through.

The goal is to save as many as possible, but for those looking to save everyone, it's recommended that a save be created before beginning the challenge. This trick, known as Save Scumming in Baldur's Gate 3, can help you readjust if you fail your first few attempts.

Keep in mind that your party's characters are just as important as the prisoners you want to save in Baldur's Gate 3. If it comes down to one of your companions surviving, or even your own character, you might have to let someone die to escape. Thankfully, there are plenty of hidden ways to gain an advantage with the right tactics and plenty of creativity during this area's intense combat.

Where To Find The Iron Throne Prison

The Iron Throne Prison is rigged to explode at Gortash's command, which makes infiltrating it a death sentence for pretty much everyone inside. The moment you approach the Prison, Gortash will start the countdown to the location's destruction in Baldur's Gate 3. However, you need to find a way to reach the area first by going to Flymm Cargo warehouses in the Lower City.

Defeat a few enemies on the first floor of the main building of Flymm Cargo, then go to a hidden dock in the building's basement. Your party will run into Redhammer the Deviser; a diver who commands a submarine that can travel to the Iron Throne Prison. Someone in your party needs to convince Redhammer to take you to the Prison with at least a DC 20 Charisma check in Baldur's Gate 3.

Redhammer the Deviser is an important figure you can execute during the "Avenge the Drowned" quest in Act 3. Your party can't travel to the Iron Throne Prison if Redhammer is dead, so don't pursue this mission until after you have tried to save everyone in the Prison.

Getting close to the Prison will play a transmission from Gortash before he triggers the meltdown of the underwater base. This will begin the challenge with the number of rounds determined by your playthrough difficulty, and where the problems really start in this part of Baldur's Gate 3.

Tips For Rescuing Every Prisoner

The enemies in the Prison will use every trick they can to prevent you from saving anyone before the end of the last round. You need speed to get through this challenge, with extra movement and the ability to perform multiple tasks in a single turn. Take your time to check your surroundings on each of your party's individual turns, and think about what enemies are capable of doing in Baldur's Gate 3.

Haste is one of the best spells for this whole encounter as the effects last for 10 turns, and it will not only let you take multiple Actions on your turn but also raise your Armor Class to make you harder to hit. Some potions may also increase your character's speed, but not to this degree. Other spells like Misty Step also help your characters move around faster in order to reach prisoners as soon as possible.

If you want to see an example of the enemies you'll face and where the prisoners of the Iron Throne are located, check out this video from YouTube creator Gamerpillar!

Enemies are just as likely to attack prisoners as they would you or your party, so make sure to take the majority of damage from their attacks in Baldur's Gate 3. Summoned minions can be helpful here to tank some hits, and maybe save a prisoner or two from being killed instantly. Cast spells or use abilities that confuse and distract targets, or debuff them to make it harder for them to act in combat.

Save The Iron Throne Prisoners

There are 14 hostages within the Iron Throne Prison, including 13 Gondians and an extremely important figure in the city of Baldur's Gate. You can save Duke Ravengard in Baldur's Gate 3 along with the other prisoners if you search for the east section of the Prison itself. Nearly everyone can be found in the west and south sections of the area, but along with a good number of enemies as well.

Duke Ravengard is marked for death by Wyll's Warlock patron, the devil Mizora. Saving him from certain death in the Iron Throne Prison could cause problems with this infernal figure later in the game.

No real tricks, besides some good magic and strong skills, will help you rescue everyone in the Prison. All your party needs to do is plan carefully and execute your ideas with efficiency to the best of your ability. The north section of the Prison is the only place without prisoners to save, but there is a ton of treasure here for those who manage to save everyone and still have some turns left over.

Simply interact with cell doors to free prisoners as you find them, which allows each person you free an Initiative roll to be included in the combat. Protect them by blocking certain hallways and preventing enemies from attacking them easily. With a little bit of luck, you should be able to save the prisoners of the Iron Throne in Baldur's Gate 3, and reunite many people with their lost loved ones.

Source: YouTube/Gamerpillar

Baldur's Gate 3

Released

August 31, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios