Quick Links
The Adamantine Forge questline is one of the most difficult to find and complete inBaldur’s Gate 3.Requiring you to venture deep into the Underdark, take on scores of enemies, seek out hidden passages, and defeat the single hardest boss in the early game, this quest is no joke, and neither are its rewards.
RELATED:Baldur’s Gate 3: Complete Guide To Rogues
Should you be willing to undertake the veritable mountain of tasks to reach and activate the Adamantine Forge, you’ll be rewarded with a way to craft some of the best armor in the game. Additionally, the experience gained along the way is certain to see you up at least one level, at least not two. Tempted yet?
Getting Started: Entering Grymforge
Grymforge,anarea of the Underdark, is theprerequisite areato reaching the Adamantine Forge. There are several ways to reach this area, but there are two main options:
The easiest way is to come from the Goblin Camp, which is part of the main quest line.
However, if you come from the Decrepit Village, you’ll have theopportunity to take several relevant questsalong the way. This includes aquest from the Myconidsto clear out the Decrepit Village of Duergar Dwarf Slavers and aspecial request from an ill gnome named Thullain the Myconid Colony.
Either way, you’llneed to get past the dwarves of the Decrepit Village and take their boat into Grymforge.You’ll be questioned by a dwarf on the way. Convince him that you had no part in the dwarves of the Decrepit Village’s demise, or push him into the water and take off on your own.
Once you land, you’ll be questioned again by another guard. Convince her to let you in and stay.
This is easier if you’re a Drow, a (Duergar) Dwarf, or bear the Mark of the Absolute.
Entering The Ancient Forge
Once you’re in, you’ll need to make your way past Grymforge and into the Ancient Forge area.
First,take the path up the stairs and then to the right from the docks area.Go past the rubble until you find some dwarvesusing a pair of rothe(animals that look like giant fantasy rams) to clear rubble. The dwarves will ask you tohelp them get the rothe to clear the rubble.
You canconvince the rotheusing Animal Handling to clear the rubble, speak with them using Speak with Animals to use your Persuasion, or use force to scare them into submission.
Either way, thedwarves here will attack you once the rubble is gone.If you’ve made good with the rothe, they’ll join you in the fight against them.
One of these dwarves is easily dealt with due to her proximity to the edge. Either you or the rothe can shove her over the edge for instant death.
Once you’re past the rubble,follow the set of stairsand the main path until you come acrossa bridge with flames spraying across it.
There areseveral traps on this bridge,and you’ll need to cross slowly and watch for traps at your feet. These traps can launch you into flames.Disarm them as you go.
Reachinga set of stairs on your left, take them downand stop trying to cross the bridge. At this point, it is impossible to cross, as the trap you must disarm cannot be disarmed due to the length of a fire trap at the end of the bridge (you’ll die trying). Instead, there is alever mechanismthat can control the metal bridge above.
To begin,send one character acrossby having them jump onto the metal bridge and thenmove it up and out to the path with the door on the opposite side of the room.This door is the entrance to the Goblin Camp behind Priestess Gut’s chapel. However, that’s not why you’re here.
Move the bridge back down andsend all your remaining characters across onto the metal pathway leading down the center of the room.Send them down until you reach a dead end with another moving metal platform.
Yoursolo character should continue down the pathon their side past the Goblin Camp door and up to adead end with a set of levers.Control the platform to let yourparty-of-three jump on. Then,move the platform across the roomwhere they canjump offonto another metal path on the other side.
Continuing down the pathwill bring them into a new area where a Waypoint into the Ancient Forge will be discovered. Yoursolo character can warphere to rejoin the group.
Do not attempt to start the Free Nere quest by interacting with the rubble down below in Grymforge (if you haven’t done it yet). Attempting to Long Rest while this quest is active will cause you to automatically fail the quest and all those within the rubble to die.
Operating The Forge: Finding Moulds And Mithril
Getting the forge to work will requirefinding a few material componentsfirst. The first component is very easy to find:a mould.There are several moulds, but the armor moulds are the easiest to find.
TheSplint Mouldfor the Adamantine Heavy Armor can be found bygoing up the stairs to the leftwhen entering the room from the Waypoint side. Once youreach the top of the first set of stairs, look left to find abody and a rectangular object (the mould) on the rocky cliffside.
TheScale Mail Mouldfor the Adamantine Medium Armor is found bygoing rightwhen entering the room from the Waypoint side. It’son the ground in front of a small walled outpost.
Beware, however, of theAnimated Armor enemies patrolling on the wall.You’ll need to fight to snatch the Scale Mail Mould in a 4v4 battle. Three are on the wall in spots that make it difficult to fire ranged weapons, and one is hiding off to the left and down a set of broken stairs.
Theother weapon mouldscan be found around this area as well:
Longsword Mould
Found on the central metal bridge in Grymforge near the first set of levers.
Found on the table near the Ancient Forge Waypoint.
Scimitar Mould
Found on a skeleton directly left of the second set of control levers in Grymforge.
Shield Mould
Found on a skeleton at the top of the stairs in the room past the first set of doors to the Goblin Camp entrance.
Once you have at least one mould, you’ll now be able to search for Mithril, a necessary crafting component.
There are six moulds, but there areonly two Mithril Ore deposits:
Thefirst one is guarded by the Animated Armors.It’s an easier fighter but requires certain feats to actually reach.
The second is a far, far harder fightguarded by swarms of Magma Mephitsthat are highly dangerous. Once one swarm of Magma Mephits has taken enough damage, more will appear for as many asten mephits that can use Heat Metalto deal massive amounts of damage.
Whichever you choose, you’ll need tobreak the ore depositto receive one Mithril Ore.Take that ore and your mould down the stairsto the central chamber where the forge awaits.
Place the Mithril Ore in the Crucible chamberin the center. Then, place yourmould of choice into the mould chamberto the right of it.
If you change your mind about the mould you want to place, you’ll need to hit the lever next to the mould chamber to re-open it.
Run over to thelever on the upper right side.Pull it, bringing down the forge’s hammer and lowering the entire platform.
From here, you’ll want toensure a few things:
Send only one of your party members to operate a wheel-like device that allows the lava to flow into the forge. Once activated, the protector of the forge, Grym will reveal himself.
225
13
12m (40ft)
Large/5,000kg (Construct)
24 (+7)
6 (-2)
3 (-4)
11 (0)
1 (-5)
Feats
Superheated
When superheated, become vulnerable to Bludgeoning and take resistant damage from Cold, Force, and Thunder.
Grym can see in the dark up to 12m.
Vengeful Guardian
Grym always targets the first creature that successfully hit it that round.
10ft melee attack, +12 to hit; ?d? Bludgeoning damage (unknown)
Quake
Creates a wave effect in a 30ft radius. +12 to hit; ?d? Bludgeoning damage (unknown). On a failed DEX saving throw, the target is knocked Prone (DC 20).
Although the official damage output of Grym is unknown, his typical damage ratio in any givenattack averages between 20-35HP.Combined with his massive Strength and numerous resistances, Grym is easily thehardest fight in the early game.
Additionally, he hasranged optionswith Quake,exceptional movement speedfor his size, and aswarm of Magma Mephits(four in total) that rush to his aid once he hits half-health.
It ishighly discouragedto attempt this fightbelow Level 4 or without Bludgeoning-type weapons.Other things that help are:
When the fight begins,Grym will be directly in front of you.Havesomeone placed as far away as possible(but still within range) andstrike him.This person will draw his aggression away from the person next to the lava spout.
The goal is to drag Grym away andstand in the center of the forgewhere the hammer falls. He canonly be damaged reliably while Superheated,so having that person next to thelava spout using their Action every two-to-three roundsto refresh the lava is extremely important.
Also, have someone with anaction ready to use the leverthat brings down the hammer.
Baiting with ranged fire(with Faerie Fire applied) and Misty Step where needed, use your ranged options toposition Grym as close to the center of the platform as possible.Ensure he’sSuperheated,thenuse the hammer’s leverto smash him. This will deal approximately half of Grym’s total health. Sodoing this twice will defeat Grym.
Things get trickier after Grym reaches half-health, however. You’ll need to keep Grym near the middle while alsodealing with a swarm of Mephits.
Bounce Grym back-and-forth between two characterswhile theother two deal with the mephits.You want to ensure you deal with them at range as much as possible since they explode upon death.
Magma Mephits are vulnerable to Cold damage. If you brought Ray of Frost, it will work wonders here.
With Grym and the Mephits defeated, the battle will finally end, and the magma will cool. You canloot Grym for a special helm:
“When a melee attack hits you, the attacker is sent reeling for two turns.
Attackers can’t land a Critical Hit on the wearer.”
And don’t forget that yourspecially-crafted item will be in the mould container.If Grym has collapsed on it, don’t worry. You can force it out with spells like Thunderwave or by moving the platform.
With your specially crafted item and Grym’s loot, you canreturn to the lever to hit a switch buttonon the pipe behind it. This will raise the platform and allow you to leave at your leisure.
NEXT:Baldur’s Gate 3: Short Rest And Long Rest, Explained
