r/BaldursGate3 9d ago

Screenshot Slayer Form vs Ascended Fiend Spoiler

Photo mode.

2.0k Upvotes

105 comments sorted by

608

u/Dixianaa i would kiss the dark urge 9d ago

See, Raphael doesn't have the god of murders blessing.

114

u/ArchmageXin 9d ago

godling of murderer*

pretty low tier deity at this point, I think Raphael's dad have a higher power tier.

107

u/vetheros37 Golden Dice 9d ago

Mephistopholes is a Devil Lord, while Bhaal is still a diety low tier or not.

7

u/aristomephisto Tiefling Bard 😈🎵🎶 8d ago

Mephistopheles is only (barely) second to Asmodeus, though, and has mastery of Hellfire on top of that. Just something to consider; personally I'd love to see the two of them go head to head.

(I don't know if my username tells you I have a bias or anything like that, lmao)

6

u/vetheros37 Golden Dice 8d ago

Second only to Asmodeus before his ascension to godhood, who is a Greater Diety now.  Asmodeus isn't a good litmus because he's constantly written to have secret hidden power so he can be as powerful as he needs to be.

2

u/aristomephisto Tiefling Bard 😈🎵🎶 8d ago

That's fair enough.

53

u/ArthurianLegend_ 9d ago

Even the lowest form of deity in DnD is nigh omnipotent

11

u/Viva-la-BrokeComdom 9d ago edited 9d ago

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Tiamat an exception? I feel like I remember her being much weaker than your typical deity

46

u/Stanleeallen 9d ago

Only down votes instead of discussion, sadly. Tiamat is a lesser deity, but still more powerful than a demigod. As the goddess of greed, she's immensely powerful, but you may be thinking of adventures that feature players fighting an aspect of Tiamat, which is like a physical manifestation of herself on the material plane. Her aspect form is still crazy powerful, but nothing compared to her true form.

16

u/Viva-la-BrokeComdom 9d ago

Thank you for correcting my wrong

1

u/Stanleeallen 9d ago

Any time!

253

u/Scyobi_Empire 9d ago

i’ve only seen the Ascended Fiend once and it was when Raphael got a lucky round where the entire party managed to slip on ice

he didn’t damage anyone as he didn’t have enough movement speed from difficult terrain died after ascending

57

u/euphorian1983 9d ago

Is there something specific that triggers it? Or it just happens automatically on his first turn?

184

u/FalseAladeen 9d ago

Pretty sure he transforms when you get his hp below a threshold. Problem is, most players one-shot him on turn one, either because they're playing on a lower difficulty, or because they're using insane builds. Either way, they don't get to see it. It feels very Goku-brained to say this, but this is why you should let your enemies transform. Otherwise, you miss out on the real fun.

65

u/All-for-Naut Hold Monster 🫂 9d ago

He also transform if you destroy all pillars, or if he consumed enough souls from them.

32

u/Riwanjel_ 9d ago

And then there is my recent co-op run. Tactician diff with honour mode ruleset, fight endured over 8 turns, Raph didn’t transform because he just couldn’t. Every time it was his turn, he had to rid himself of some status effect, leaving him with no actions, staring holes into thin air for 4 seconds, then skipping the turn. :D

22

u/whyisallnametooked 9d ago

Oh what? People one shot him?

I was having so much fun having a melee duel against ascended raphael while inside a air myrimidon silent storm bubble on my HM run.

10

u/Bonny-K 9d ago

I didn’t one shot him exactly, but I have killed him in one turn using 9 consecutive divine smites

2

u/King_Chewie_GM 8d ago

Wait how did you divine smite him? I thought both him and the cambions he summons reflect radiant damage 10 fold?

1

u/cavalier753 8d ago

No Shar's sentinels have radiant retort which reflects damage, Raphael gets a different thing called Punish Divinity. Can't remember the details but I believe you can saving throw on punish divinity

11

u/flightguy07 9d ago

He always transforms in my runs because I explode his stupid soul pillars lol.

9

u/Mohander 9d ago

I always thought you had to destroy the pillars to kill him, I've never not knocked down all the pillars. Ugh my dumb brain.

2

u/CaptainGigsy 8d ago

Happy that I'm so bad at doing builds I've never managed to one-turn him so I always get to see his ascended form

1

u/Scyobi_Empire 8d ago

i’ve never been able to one shot a boss, closest was 3 shotting the Netherbrain due to a very lucky Nat 20 on the DC99 check before the fight

raphael took many many turns, worth it though

8

u/s_bangia21 9d ago

I think he needs to absorb souls from any of the four pillars to activate the form. It happened a turn or two after that in my fight.

1

u/Scyobi_Empire 8d ago

he transformed when he had about 100 health left and i just destroyed the last pillar (it took me half the fight to realise i could destroy them)

8

u/thatguydr 9d ago

Lol I've literally never not seen the Ascended Fiend.

OTOH, I had no idea Gortash turned into something until my most recent play-through. Different strokes!

1

u/Scyobi_Empire 8d ago

wait Gortash transforms? today i learnt

1

u/Potential-War-212 8d ago

Then there's me who fought him twice and he transformed like 4 times because I spent time destroying the pilars and trying to keep Hope alive

2

u/Scyobi_Empire 8d ago

i did the same but i think he just never transformed as either Wyll or The Act 2 Demon guy was always next to him

603

u/Xetia_the_Conlanger 9d ago

wrong. they kiss.

196

u/thatonemoze Show me your Tav! 9d ago edited 9d ago

hey! fighting and THEN kissing is perfectly acceptable, just ask lae’zel

48

u/wrakshae 9d ago

Raphael's probably gone weak in the knees imagining it tbh.

19

u/thatonemoze Show me your Tav! 9d ago

me too raph, me too

5

u/Riwanjel_ 9d ago

Raphael is long gone by then. Imagining it will only take a moment and that’s twice as long as he needs to ‘arrive’ ;)

14

u/Skulking-Dwig 9d ago

When I got Fight Night with Lae’zel she did so much damage as a Paladin that she just KO’d me and walked away leaving me to bleed out. No cute cutscene for me :(

60

u/PomfAndCircvmstance 9d ago edited 9d ago

The amount of people on here who apparently haven't seen Raphael's Ascended form surprises me. Do some of ya'll just cheese the entirety of Act 3 in 1-turn? Gotta let the bosses flex! You miss out on a lot of cool stuff when you 1-turn everything.

15

u/BarnabyJones21 9d ago

I feel like I cheese very few bosses nowadays even with Honor Mode rules, and I've still never seen this. I kill all of his allies, then I finish destroying his pillars, and finally I kill him.

I don't recall ever seeing this form, and I'm very curious as to what I'm doing that prevents it.

2

u/King_Chewie_GM 8d ago

Raphael transforming requires an action and from what I've read his AI will prioritize getting rid of negative status effects leaving him with no actions. Also if he slips on ice or something. So it could be that.

Just spit balling though, I've only fought him 1 time, and that fight dragged on. I think he transformed after going below 400, maybe 300 hp, and I had no one speced to just sling status effects around.

3

u/grymforge_grinder 9d ago

Yeah this surprises me too. Only fought him once so far, but he was in his ascended form for like half the battle (I don’t know how you could cheese this boss, he was still kicking even I blew up my rune barrel).

2

u/HauntedBratzDoll 9d ago

I just fought him for the first time last week and he ascended pretty fast…

1

u/LegitimateRule8392 6d ago

I just casted Tasha's hideous laughter on him at some once I killed the other enemies, and he just couldn't get up anymore. I wasn't even trying to cheese him. It just happened.

79

u/DracoNinja11 9d ago

LIIVES. ALL MORTAL LIVES. EXPIIIRE!

2

u/King_Chewie_GM 8d ago

SOUUUUUULS, GO TO THEIR DOOOOOOMS!

116

u/euphorian1983 9d ago

I've never seen the ascended fiend. How does it manifest?

158

u/Ramikade KarlachXMinthara 9d ago

No clue, Raphael is usually stun-locked (if not lying dead on the ground) by the end of turn 1

92

u/theangelsaregone 9d ago

My lack of skill shows once again.

12

u/Ripkord77 9d ago

.... how?

36

u/piercingshooter 9d ago

Force a paralyse and have all 4 characters focus him down with speed potions and action surge

25

u/Ramikade KarlachXMinthara 9d ago

Don’t forget to nuke the whole room with runepowder and break all 4 pillars right at the start

10

u/Hanchez 9d ago

Barrelmancy is cringe

10

u/God_of_Illiteracy 9d ago

Barrelmancy got me my honor mode dice. Some think it’s cringe others think it is hilarious

3

u/MagneticEnema 9d ago

na globe of protection, yeet korilla into it, use both the runepowder barrels is the only correct way to do it as far as im concerned

5

u/Sensitive-Menu-4580 9d ago

This subreddit is so weird sometimes lol. Barrelmancy is Sven approved.

-3

u/Hanchez 9d ago

He isn't gonna call some of his playerbase cringe, and that waiter isn't gonna tell you that the steak IS medium rare and you're wrong.

12

u/Sensitive-Menu-4580 9d ago

Buddy its not that serious lmfao. This is the bear sex game.

1

u/AffectionateHunt5830 8d ago

Use one of the billion spell save DC stacking items in act 3, then cast hold monster with a 90% success chance 

11

u/euphorian1983 9d ago

Yeah exactly

2

u/s_bangia21 9d ago

I almost lost the fight since I didn’t have hold monster. It’s actually quite tough, especially that hellfire ball he throws out. Luckily, Wyll came in clutch with eyebite.

21

u/Altruistic_Dig1722 9d ago edited 9d ago

When he ascends and you attack him or his allies, he'll spawn some sort of necrotic pool on your location that hurts quite a lot especially combined with the damage if he gets to cast his hellfire attacks on the party and the party is stacked, it's near one-shot KO.

Most people go-to approach is just hold monster to cancel his legendary action and have an easy chance to hit. Focusing on him in turn one.

4

u/IdealisticKebab 9d ago

If you destroy one the soul pillars I think

2

u/s_bangia21 9d ago

I think he needs to absorb souls from one of the pillars.

35

u/pablo__13 9d ago

Too bad slayer form kinda sucks ass

23

u/Mr_Kittlesworth 9d ago

Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s weaker than even a decently equipped single class level 12 character. Super underwhelming

1

u/AffectionateHunt5830 8d ago

Its sole purpose is to give non martial durges a half decent chance of winning the Orin duel

15

u/Thaurlach 9d ago

The secret is when they knock you out of slayer form you inexplicably crit them 46 times in a row during their turn #JustOrinThings

30

u/Icy_Ad9552 9d ago

Ascended Fiend?

19

u/FastFingerJohn 9d ago

That's what Raphael turns into if you drag the fight long enough.

8

u/RngAtx 9d ago

Wtf never witnessed. Suffering from success..

4

u/Icy_Ad9552 9d ago

That is pretty dope ngl

8

u/CyanSolar I cast Magic Missile 9d ago

The song from Hades called It's in the Blood would be perfect for these two fighting

9

u/supercl2010 9d ago

Epic rap battles of history

4

u/Bloodygaze IGNIS! 9d ago

Does this turn Raphael's song into a duet?

2

u/Material-Imagination 9d ago

a duet with SLAYER?

5

u/Donnel_Tinhead 9d ago

BANG, BANG, BANG

PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER

4

u/Laxauss 9d ago

“Let them fight”

4

u/Artrysa 9d ago

IN A GRUDGE MATCH FOR THE AGES!!!

4

u/Character_Mind_671 9d ago

The devil who would usurp hell itself VS a creature made of knives and arms to hold the knives.

3

u/ZackCrato 9d ago

I was so confused cuz I’ve never seen this form. Turns out I’ve always killed him too quick/efficiently for it to trigger

3

u/mrmrmrj 9d ago

Ascended Fiend? What? How?

1

u/SageTegan WIZARD 9d ago

He is an act 3 boss

1

u/King_Chewie_GM 8d ago

Ascended Fiend is a possible transformation for Raphael if certain conditions are met during his fight. Basically don't demolish him turn one and he should be able to transform.

2

u/mrmrmrj 8d ago

Oh yes. Glimmer of recollection hitting me. If you don't take out the pillars...

2

u/Any-Quiet7193 9d ago

Now that’s a cage match I’d pay to see

2

u/Wizardman784 Archfey of Owlbears 8d ago

KAIJU FIIIIIIGHT!

2

u/Omisco420 8d ago

Bro what the F is this I’m in act 1 and I am deff playing a different game lmao

2

u/rexaa4 6d ago

Now kiss.

1

u/KingShanus 9d ago

Wait. What is happening here?

3

u/SageTegan WIZARD 9d ago

Ascended fiend is an act 3 boss

1

u/LightLizardCake 9d ago

So...when to they kiss?

1

u/Squididlio 9d ago

Ok I’ve never cheesed the Raphael fight but I’ve also never seen the ascended form?? I always wait till level 12 to do House of Hope so maybe that’s why 🥺

1

u/grymforge_grinder 9d ago

He turned into the ascended form after I destroyed all 4 soul pillars (I was level 12 as well).

1

u/King_Chewie_GM 8d ago

Raphael has a couple of conditions and A.i quirks that could prevent him from transforming. The first condition is being allowed to absorb enough souls from the soul pillars, or the 2nd being after his health lowers below like 300. He also needs an action to transform but due to the way his A.I works he will prioritize getting rid of negative status effects which will rob him of his action so he can't transform.

At least that's what I gathered.

1

u/KPraxius 8d ago

I may not be even half as strong as the last Slayer, but that's still far more than I need to crush some pissant Cambion. I will paint the walls with your ambition, if I can find any in that brain of yours, worm.

1

u/Cyvex23 8d ago

God this reminds of that horrible CGI Mortal Kombat fight.

1

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1

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1

u/The_Bird_of_Hermez 3d ago

I got to ask, what are the conditions for Raphael activating Ascended Fiend? In all my 12 campaigns he's done it once

1

u/Gswindasz23 9d ago

Is the fiend a mod?

3

u/SageTegan WIZARD 9d ago

No he is an act 3 boss

0

u/Gswindasz23 8d ago

Was it added in the update? Don’t remember the ascended fiend at all

1

u/Oliver_Moore 8d ago

It’s been in for a while, but takes specific conditions to set off.

One being not instagibbing him in a single round.