Baldur’s Gate 3 Guide | How To Beat Aunty Ethel

Here’s everything you need to know on how to beat Aunty Ethel in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Game Guide by Ornstein on Dec 30, 2024

Aunty Ethel is an evil grandma living in Sunlit Wetlands of Baldur's Gate 3. At first glance, when you meet her, she is this harmless old lady, while in reality, her nature is much darker. This combat will test your party preparation, strategic thinking, and how you will handle this difficult situation.

You'll have to fight through many illusions, traps, and moral dilemmas as you go deeper into her lair, outsmarting her sly ways. This guide goes over the preparation, the various phases of battle, and techniques needed to move by Aunty Ethel efficiently.

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Prepare for the Fight

Come to Aunty Ethel's lair only if your party is well-rested. A lair full of hazardous environments, deadly gas clouds, and even fire traps, this is one place where bringing a high Perception character with a trap disarm is of utmost importance. Stock up on healing potions, antidotes, and spells that would fight things such as afflictions from charm and blindness, which she frequently uses in order to disrupt your party.

Characters with high Wisdom saves would prove to be super helpful because they would resist most of her control effects. Also, get ready with area-of-effect spells and range strikes that will definitely be of much help with her clones and the challenging positioning.

Fire-based spells or items are really potent here, as they clear poison clouds while doing continuous damage to the hag and those around her. Bless or Heroism helps your party persist, whereas Remove Curse or Protection from Evil and Good can neuter her charm powers. A mix in your group, having both melee, ranged, and spellcasting options, will allow you to shift your tactics in response to how she's behaving.

Navigating Aunt Ethel's Lair

Aunty Ethel's lair is hazardous, packed with traps, illusions, and bad guys. As you make your way towards her, go slowly and cast Perception to find traps and hidden foes. The Overgrown Tunnel in which she resides also contains poison gas clouds; purifying those becomes an option with fire. Progress with a character who can disarm traps-that way, when one is sprung, your resources won't be depleted as quickly.

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When you encounter Aunty Ethel, she'll likely be trying to lull you into a false sense of security before she reveals her true, gruesome form. Force her to fight on your terms by effectively organizing your gathering. Don't bunch up as much as possible because she often does spells area-of-effect which can deal lethal damage or even disable several party members in one place.

Phase 1: Combat starts

Aunty Ethel initiates combat in her actual hag form. She quite often creates several clones that confuse and misdirect your party. The illusive clone is weak and easy to kill, but if not stopped, they'll cause serious damage. Allow area-of-effect spells to kill many clones at once, such as Fireball or Shatter, to expose the real Aunty Ethel.

The trick of this phase is to keep an eye on the real hag all the time while taking care of her illusions. You should be able to figure out from her behavior which is the real hag-she doesn't disappear when whacked. Be ready for her to cast Charm Person or similar charms that may turn some of your party members against you.

Keep characters with high Wisdom saves close to Aunty Ethel, in order to minimize the effects of her charm abilities. Alternatively, if one of the party members is charmed, cast Remove Curse or another form of dispelling or suppressing magic to disable the enchantment.

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Phase II: The Hostage Dilemma

Once Aunty Ethel's hit points drop to about 50%, she retreats and reveals a horrific tactic: she takes a hostage, usually Mayrina, and hangs her above an abyss of acid or fire. This move challenges your moral decision and quick action. You have a few options here.

You can attempt to save the hostage by using ranged attacks to destroy the contraption holding her in place. There's also creative use of Misty Step and Feather Fall in order to get closer to Mayrina. Of course, there's the approach that completely ignores the hostage and focuses an attack on Aunty Ethel. This risks killing the hostage, which can possibly have story consequences later on in the game.

Using your dialogue choices to your advantage, you are given time to reposition the party or get into position in preparation for the next stage. Note that Ethel will still occasionally attack you or summon more clones, though, so be wary.

Phase III: The Final Stand

On the final stage, Aunty Ethel becomes super aggressive, calls environmental hazards, and casts her most destructive spells. The arena will be filled with poison clouds and fire pits everywhere, making close combat difficult, so it's best fought using long-range attacks and spells while keeping your squad spread out to minimize the effects of AoE attacks of hers.

Radiant damage and fire-based spells become especially effective in this state since they can cancel her natural regeneration abilities. Moreover, casters of Crowd Control like Hold Person and Silence should use their spells. That makes her strongest and most useful abilities useless, so keep moving and adjust with her. She doesn't isolate or put a party member into a vulnerable position.

Reward and Outcomes after the Fight End

Beating Aunty Ethel rewards you with precious loot, including her staff, potions, and possibly unique items tied to her lore. If you managed to save Mayrina, she'll thank you and give you additional lines that could affect later events. If you didn't, well. well, it might have story consequences on your party's morale or alter future encounters further on.

Once you've beaten her, take a good loot around her lair for hidden secrets and information. Watch out, though, as some traps may still be active. Take a little time to reflect on the choices you made throughout this entire encounter, as they will probably have a large impact on the rest of your game.

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Tips to Win

Beating Aunty Ethel requires quick identification of who the real hag is, area denial with fire, and quick removal of poison clouds from that area. Bring with you spells or items that can counter her charm and blindness. If you are faced with choices including hostages, make sure you weigh up the risks and possible benefits carefully.

During the last phase of the fight, be fluid, be adaptive, and take both her teleportation and the rest of the environmental hazards into consideration. This boss fight tests not only fighting skills but also a narrative, a moral test that makes this confrontation unique and one of the most memorable fights in Baldur's Gate 3. So, with some good planning and well-executed play, you can try to outsmart Aunty Ethel.

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