By the time you’ve reached the city of Baldur’s Gate, you’ll be on the hunt for the Netherstones and looking to take down those holding them. Eliminating Lord Gortash will be a bit tricky, though, with this Steel Watch in the way of your Baldur’s Gate 3 progress.
As you undertake the pursuit of the Netherstones in Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 you’ll acquire the quest “Disable the Steel Watch.” The goal is exactly that: take out the Steel Watch, so Gortash doesn’t have his surprisingly hard-hitting robo-army to protect him. Getting it done, though, is a task with a few different options.
You can pick this quest up a few ways, which will give you a few different options for tackling it. You can either head over to the Foundry naturally, after assessing that dismantling the Steel Watch would probably be helpful, or you can talk to Wulbren. If you saved him, along with the other prisoners, from Moonrise Towers in Act 2, he’ll give you a special explosive and ask you to take out the Foundry. You can also get sent here by the Gondians you rescue from the Iron Throne, if you went and did that section before this one.
How to get to the Steel Watch Foundry in Baldur’s Gate 3
Either way, we’re infiltrating the Steel Watch Foundry. You can take the front door, if you’d like, or you can go a more roundabout way like I did to access the roof. I recommend the latter, as its both a stealthier option and it’s really fun stacking boxes for Gale to climb up.
There’s a rooftop access, where you can either dangerously hop or safely Feather Fall down through. Here, you’ll likely find the Gondians arguing with the guards. Things have come to a head with Steel Watch development, it seems, and a worker revolution is breaking out. Let’s side with labor, shall we?
Watch out for some big hits from the guards and try to keep as many Gondians alive as you can. (I’ll tell you right now, that’s a tall ask.) The key one you want to keep alive, for a certain outcome, is the blindfolded character. That’s Zanner Toobin, who designed the Watch. Now he wants to blow it up. So naturally, our causes align.
Follow him down a floor, while making a quick pit-stop to construct the excellent Hellfire Engine Crossbow while you’re here. It’s very helpful for the next few fights, if you have a Heavy Crossbow user like Karlach in your party.
Keep fighting your way forward, keeping Toobin alive and annihilating some Steel Watch in the process. Look out for their Self-Detonation protocols, and remember that Lightning attacks (which, note, are different from Thunder) do extra damage.
Eventually you’ll reach an area where Toobin will warn you that a giant foe awaits, and he’ll let you go ahead and take it out before he heads in to take down the Foundry. At least we’re not escorting anymore. Get your Lightning spells ready and have some potions on hand.
How to beat the Steel Watcher Titan in Baldur’s Gate 3
While the final room only has three Steel Watch guards hanging out, once the fight starts, the Titan will emerge. It’s a quadrapedal behemoth with some real firepower, but the true test of this fight is dealing with both the Titan and the guards at the same time.
A few options can really help for this bout. First off, Gale can really make an impact; Witch Bolt does extra damage to the Watch, and you can keep activating it for extended damage throughout the fight. Summoning an Air Elemental is also helpful, as it can shock and potentially stun enemies.
Take out the Guards first, trying to focus them down. Be careful to watch their HP pool, as they will detonate like the other guards do. Be ready to move out of the area when they prime for detonation.
Control spells don’t work too well on the Steel Watch, so this is going to come down to a numbers game. Try to hammer on enemies as fast as you can and knock out the guards, so only the Titan remains. The big boy will sometimes activate a defensive mode, which you’ll need to break by exceeding a damage threshold. A Raging Karlach, souped-up Warlock, or other heavy hitter can handle this.
Keep an eye out for the hellfire missile attack, and it should be a straightforward end to the fight. Make sure to loot the good loot, then talk to Toobin and decide what to do with the Foundry.
Keeping Toobin alive will let you disable the Steel Watch without using the powerful explosive Wulbren gave you, so you can save it for a later fight.
Side with Toobin or Wulbren
Once outside, Wulbren will show up to congratulate you, as well as confront Toobin if he’s still alive. Toobin simply wants to leave, and is willing to cede Baldur’s Gate to the Ironhands. But Wulbren wants blood.
Whoever you side with will add their aid to your Gather Your Allies docket, so just pick a side. You can either talk it out, or you might have to fight. Either way, the Steel Watch are now no longer a threat in Baldur’s Gate 3.
